This article is from page 16 of the 2009-11-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE managing director of a north Clare-based electronic display man- ufacturer said yesterday that the company is aiming for break-even this year after sustaining its worst ever year last year.
Paul Neville of Data Display Hold- ings Ltd was commenting after com- pany filings showed that it incurred a pre-tax loss of €898,000 to the end of December last year. This com- pared to a pre-tax loss of €69,094 in 2007.
Established in 1980, the Irish- owned company is based in Ennisty- mon and employed 167 at the end of December last.
The company includes the New York Subway, the London Un- derground and the French SNCF amongst its customers, with 92 per cent of its products exported.
Revenues last year dropped 27 per cent from €19 million to €13 mil- lion with Mr Neville conceding, “It was probably our worst year ever.”
He said, “This year is much bet- ter and I believe that we have turned things around and we are heading for usr Gao te
“We were affected earlier by the re- cession, but we are hoping to recover a lot quicker.”
He said that the sales this year are up 10 per cent on 2008 revenues.
“We are leaner now, but we haven’t let anyone go. That is some achieve- ment ina very difficult environment,” he added.
Mr Neville said that the order book looks reasonable for 2010.
“The environment is still very chal- lenging. That is what you are dealt with and you get on with it.”
Mr Neville explained that the com- pany has grown organically since etree
Data Display paid dividends of €35,600 to its shareholders last year.
The directors’ report attached to the accounts state, “In common with the economic climate in general, the group experienced a drop in turnover as some significant customer projects were delayed in 2008. The directors anticipate a return to profitability in PAU Oia
The company had an operating loss of €761,696 compared to €113,543 the previous year.
The accounts show that at the end of December last, accumulated prof- its stood at €2.49 million while shareholder funds amounted to €6.7 million.