GLENNON BROTHERS, the timber processing firm which has its headquarters in Longford, increased turnover last year to €58.8 million and recorded a profit before tax of €4.6 million.
In 2008, the firm, which has operations in Ireland and Britain, recorded a pretax loss of €1.1 million on revenues of €57.1 million.
The return to profitability for the family-owned firm was driven by a reduction in the cost of sales from €42.5 million in 2008 to €40.3 million in 2009, and a fall in administration expenses from €7.5 million to €3.3 million.
Accounts just filed with the Companies Office for Glennon Bros Holdings Ltd, the parent company for 13 firms, show it employed an average of 303 staff last year, down from 330 in 2008. It had €13.9 million in cash in the bank at the end of 2009 and bank loans of €12.9 million, of which €2.4 million are due within a year.
Glennon Brothers director Mike Glennon said the three UK businesses in the group “had a strong year in 2009”.
The group also benefited from a full 12-month contribution from Adam Wilson Sons and Alexanders Timber Design, businesses it acquired during 2008.
Mr Glennon said the firm had focused on overseas markets in response to the rapid downturn in the Irish construction market. As well as expansion in the UK, it began exports to France last year. Before the downturn, about two-thirds of the business was in Ireland but the domestic market now accounts for just one-third of sales, he said.
Glennon Brothers expects to double its exports from Ireland in 2010, which Mr Glennon said was “testimony to the hard work, dedication and flexibility of our Irish workforce”.
He said profitability in the Irish sawmilling sector was being threatened by a doubling of log costs this year.
He blamed this on overcapacity in the sector but also the dominance of State forestry company Coillte in the marketplace.
The accounts show that company directors Mike, Pat and William Glennon received combined fees of €280,000 in 2009, down from €358,000 the previous year.
Mike and Pat Glennon won the industry category at the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards last October.
