Building materials group Readymix reported a €47 million pretax loss last year as the global downturn hit the construction industry across all its markets.
The Dublin-quoted company said revenues declined from €170 million in 2007 to €132 million and that it had incurred non-recurring charges of €26 million.
These were primarily due to rationalisation costs, the elimination of goodwill and the re-evaluation of property and equipment.
Earnings per share fell to a loss of 35.87 cent from 19.53 cent.
The board is recommending a final dividend of 1.65 cent down from 7.76 cent in 2007.
The company said the financial results were “very poor” but that the result “obscures the progress that has been made during the year in reshaping and resizing the business”.
The company said it was looking to protect its cash reserves – it had over €6 million at the end of the year – and said it would consider asset disposals if it could secure “proper shareholder value”.