Pretax profit of €1.86m for Rohan property firm

Ken Rohan’s property group made a pretax profit of €1.86 million last year and paid a dividend of €3.1 million. The investment and property development group wrote down its property portfolio by €13.3 million in the year to the end of November 2011, but still had a conservative net debt ratio of 12 per cent.

The group, which is 54 per cent owned by Mr Rohan (68) with other family members holding shares, was in a net cash position at year end when non-recourse debt was excluded, according to the latest accounts for Airspace Investments Ltd.

It had leasehold and investment properties of €90.8 million at year’s end, of which €73 million had no attributable bank debt. It had development land, stock and work-in-progress of €41.9 million.

The directors, in their notes to the accounts, said they believed the carrying value attributed to these assets was not greater than their estimated net realisable value.

The group’s pretax profit was €5.26 million in 2010. Turnover was €9.5 million in 2011, down from €13.6 million the previous year. Income included €1.29 million from sales and €8.27 million from rent. The bulk of the group’s income (€8.9 million) was in the Republic, with the rest coming from the UK (€534,319) and Barbados (€92,722).

The group paid a dividend of €1.82 million in 2010. Shareholders’ funds at the end of 2011 were €117.3 million, according to the group’s consolidated balance sheet.

Directors’ remuneration was €869,836, down from €915,518 the previous year.The number of staff employed, excluding executive directors, remained at 10. Staff costs were €1.45 million. The group paid corporation tax of €1.7 million in 2011, and a similar amount the previous year.

Airspace Investments has a range of Irish and UK subsidiaries, most of which are property investment companies.

It also has property investment companies in the British Virgin Islands (Vandam Management Holdings) and Panama (Klairan Trading).

Total loans at the end of the year were €33 million, with cash at bank of €18.9 million, making for a net debt position at the end of the year of €14.17 million.