Net worth of Ballymena-based WrightBus increases to £24.4m

Outlook for group, which employs 1,200 people in North, ‘remains positive’

A Wrightbus double decker  in operation in Singapore:  the company’s annual accounts for 2014 covered a 15-month period of trading. Photograph: PA
A Wrightbus double decker in operation in Singapore: the company’s annual accounts for 2014 covered a 15-month period of trading. Photograph: PA

The net worth of the privately owned, Ballymena-based WrightBus increased last year to £24.4 million, according to latest accounts which also show a £28 million drop in sales to £249 million. The accounts detail that pretax profits fell from £6.5 million in 2014 to £4.3 million last year.

In 2014, the company’s annual accounts covered a 15-month period of trading while the latest accounts cover the 12-month period to the end of December 2015

According to its chairman, Mark Nodder, on a comparative 12-month basis turnover during 2015 increased by 12 per cent which in turn delivered a pre-tax margin of 1.7 per cent.

He said the outlook for the group, which employs 1,213 people in the North, “remains positive” although he also warned that there were”some uncertainties” surrounding the outcome of the upcoming Bus Services Bill in the UK.

Francess McDonnell

Francess McDonnell

Francess McDonnell is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in business