Ove Arup’s Irish division sees turnover rise 12%

Pretax profits more than double but operating losses widen over the year

Other Irish projects the group has worked on include Terminal 2 at Dublin airport, the refurbishment of Cork County Hall and the Crann centre at Trinity College

The Irish subsidiary of consulting engineering group Ove Arup, whose projects include the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre and Wexford Opera House, saw turnover rise by 12.2 per cent to €43.2 million from €38.5 million last year.

Newly-filed accounts for the 12 months to the end of March 2015, show pretax profits at Ove Arup and Partners Ireland more than doubled to €198,338 from €66,388 a year earlier. The company's operating losses widened however to €197,709 from €80,360.

The group, which employs 360 people across four offices in Ireland, said it “made a total profit a before tax, dividends and staff profit share of €3.1 million,” during the year. This marks an 82 per cent increase versus the €1.7 million it said it made a year earlier.

Ove Arup said takeover per person was €108,000 versus €107,000 in 2014 with profit per person rising from €470,000 to 770,000.

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Net assets at the end of March 2015 totalled €326,000, as against €6.4 million a year earlier due to a €5.8 million increase in the company’s defined benefits pension scheme deficit.

“The company has a solid, diversified portfolio to navigate the market challenges and a breadth of quality employees,” the group said.

Employment-related costs declined from €26 million to €28.5 million over the year despite staff numbers rising from 319 to 358. Directors’ remuneration rose to €1.71 million from €1.46 million.

Ove’s parent, which employs more than 12,000 people across 92 offices in 119 countries, reported annual income of £1.13 billion for the period April 2014 to March 2015. Among the award-winning projects it has worked on are the Fulton Center in New York, the Leadenhall Building in London and Bosco Verticale in Milan.

Other Irish projects the group has worked on include Terminal 2 at Dublin airport, the refurbishment of Cork County Hall and the Crann centre at Trinity College.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist