Engineering company Mincon has reported a 31% drop in operating profit for 2014 as its annual revenues rose by 4% as the mining industry worldwide experienced a downturn.
The company also said its chief executive Kevin Barry is retiring from the role of CEO. Mr Barry joined the company in 1984 and became CEO in 1990.
Mincon will now start looking for a new chief executive and Mr Barry will continue in his role until a new CEO is in place.
The company posted an operating profit of €10.35m for last year, down from the €15m reported in 2013. Its total revenues rose by 4% to €54.54m from €52.34m.
Mincon makes a range of rock-drilling hammers and bits for a variety of industries including mining exploration, mining production, oil and gas drilling, water well drilling, geothermal drilling and seismic drilling.
It said its board is recommending a final dividend of a cent per ordinary share. When added to the interim dividend of one cent, this makes a total dividend of two cent per share.
Mr Barry said the decline in the commodity prices of base and precious metals such as gold, iron ore and copper has had a major impact on the global exploration and mining market.
He said it has also been factor in the significant devaluation of certain key currencies in which Mincon trades, especially the South African rand and the Australia dollar.
The company said today its "fundamentals of profits and cash flow are healthy". It said that industry cycles are a fact of life and it is the objective of the management team to ensure the effects of the troughs of these cycles are controlled and minimised.
