The builders of Dublin's tallest office block - the EXO - last year sustained an €85m revenue hit, due mainly to the continuing impact of Covid-19.
New accounts for Bennett (Construction) Ltd show that pre-tax profits reduced by 79% in the 12 months to the end of March 2022, from €5.76m to €1.2m.
This followed revenues decreasing by 38%, or €84.82m, from €224.8m to €139.97m.
In their report, the directors state that the decline in revenues was due to the continued impact of Covid, with lockdowns both at home and abroad causing supply chain issues resulting in delays of completion of contracts.
In addition, the directors state that they have seen considerable lead time extension in the commencement of new contracts by clients.
The directors state that they "expect a considerable increase in revenue in the current year and beyond".
The business provides building services to commercial, residential, information technology, health, retail and industrial sectors and the firm paid a dividend of €3m last year.
The group last year availed of 'Government grants' relating to Covid-19 subsidy schemes of €160,750, and this followed €617,356 under that heading in fiscal 2021.
The new accounts show that the group’s Irish revenues last year declined by 35%, from €140.73 million to €91.6 million.
'Rest of Europe’ revenues declined by 42%, from €84.07 million to €48.36 million.
The group last year recorded post tax profits of €1.01m after paying corporation tax of €188,909.
The Bennett Group was established in 1917 in Mullingar and has constructed, renovated and successfully delivered over 1,000 buildings.
Numbers directly employed last year reduced from 132 to 122, as staff costs reduced marginally to €10.71m.
Directors’ pay for the year remained at the same level of €1m made up of emoluments of €965,602 and pension contributions of €55,931.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €317,928.
At the end of last March, the group had accumulated profits of €51.49m. The group’s cash funds reduced from €113.9m to €90.79m.
A note attached to the accounts states that during the year "the company provided construction services to two of the directors. The costs incurred on these projects during the year amounted to €1.74m".
