STAFFORD HOLDINGS, the family-owned fuel, retail and shipping group, has posted a 37 per cent fall in operating profit to €2.6 million in the year to September 30th, 2008, new accounts show.
Pretax profits totalled €231,000 compared with €13.3 million in the preceding nine-month reporting period, when it was bolstered by the sale of its shipping business in Foynes, Co Limerick.
Profits were affected by the sharp spike in oil prices during the year and weakening retail sales due to the economic slowdown.
The group owns retailer Lifestyle Sports, which has 70 outlets in Ireland and 24 in the Czech Republic, fuel merchants Campus Oil and Stafford Fuels, and Wexford-based Stafford Shipping.
Turnover for the year to the end of September 2008 rose to €466 million from €301 million during the preceding nine months.
Mark Stafford, chief executive of the Stafford Group, declined to comment on the financial results.
The company had net debt of €20.3 million at September 2008 compared with €6.4 million a year earlier due to the financing costs associated with buying the Forstaar sports retail group in the Czech Republic in 2007.
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