THE IRISH arm of construction and engineering giant Laing O’Rourke went into the red last year as revenues plunged and its workforce was cut by over half.
Accounts just filed with the Companies Office by Laing O’Rourke Ireland Ltd, show that revenues at the company dropped by 75.7 per cent last year from €103.6 million to €25.1 million to the end of March 2010.
The figures show that the company made a pretax loss of €1 million compared to a pretax profit of €2.8 million in 2009.
The losses incurred last year resulted in the company’s accumulated losses totalling €6.2 million.
The accounts state that the directors “are disappointed with the loss for the year incurred as a result of difficult economic conditions. Market conditions remain challenging and the business will only pursue selective profitable opportunities”.
The figures show that the number employed by the firm more than halved during the year from 590 to 282 – a loss of 308 or 52 per cent of its workforce. Site staff bore the brunt of the job losses, with 185 posts lost in that sector. The job losses resulted in the company reducing its staff costs by 45 per cent from €33.8 million to €18.7 million.
The company also incurred a €753,000 write down in the value of investment properties during the year, following a €2.8 million write off the previous year. It recorded an operating loss of €1.2 million compared to an operating profit of €2.5 million in 2009.
Established by Irishmen Ray O’Rourke and his brother Des three decades ago, the group has operations in Europe, the Middle East, south Asia and Australia.
The company’s Irish operations represent a small fraction of the group’s global activities with Laing O’Rourke being the biggest privately owned construction firm in Britain. Its projects include the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Park and Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
