Glencullen Holdings pays Cullen €2.2m dividend

Best-selling author and Renault distributor Mr Bill Cullen was paid a €2.2 million dividend in 2002 by his group Glencullen Holdings.

The company made a pre-tax profit of €11.26 million in the year to December 31st, 2002, according to accounts just filed. This compared with a figure of €9.1 million in 2001.

Directors' remuneration for 2002 was €5.1 million, compared with €4.3 million in 2001. The directors during the year were: Mr Cullen; Mr Patrick Barrett; Mr Jeremiah Nolan; and Mr Ian Young.

Gross profit in 2002 was €9.6 million with €2.2 million being paid out as a dividend and the rest being retained. Accumulated retained profits at the end of 2002 were €26 million.

Mr Cullen (61) is the 100 per cent owner of the group. Notes to the accounts say the principal activity of the group was the distribution of Renault motor vehicles and that a downturn in the market during the year was offset to a large degree by an increase in market share.

Turnover for the year was €275 million, compared with €267 million the previous year. During the year, Mr Cullen had a loan of €3.74 million from the company but this was settled by year's end.

The average number of people employed by the group during 2002 was 249 and total staff costs were €14 million.

Glencullen Holdings Ltd is the 100 per cent owner of a significant number of subsidiaries. The figures given are consolidated figures for the group. During 2002, political donations totalling €19,896 were made to a number of parties and individuals, according to the accounts.

Mr Cullen's memoir, It's A Long Way From Penny Apples, was a best-seller in Ireland and was subsequently published in the UK, where again it entered the best-sellers list.

The book tells of how Mr Cullen was one of 14 children raised in the Summerhill tenements of Dublin's inner city and how he sold fruit, paper roses, Christmas decorations, newspapers and cinema tickets on the street.

He finished school with the Christian Brothers at 14 years of age and started as an office messenger with Walden Motors, the Ford dealership, for wages of £1 a week.

Mr Cullen bought the debt- ridden Irish franchise for Renault for £1 in 1986 and turned it into an extremely successful and profitable business.

All royalties for his book are donated to the Irish Youth Foundation.