THE BOARD of Irish Continental Group (ICG) has set March 18th as the deadline for its chief executive Eamonn Rothwell and the Philip Lynch-led Moonduster group to make a joint bid for the ferry company.
Mr Rothwell and Moonduster indicated in December that they were working on putting together a joint offer for ICG but have yet to table a bid.
It is understood that Mr Rothwell and Moonduster, which comprises Mr Lynch’s One51 investment group and the Cork-based Doyle shipping company, have made progress in terms of securing bank funding but it is not clear if the group will be able to meet ICG’s deadline.
The consortium is believed to be in talks with AIB and Bank of Ireland in relation to funding. It is also thought to have met representatives of property developer Liam Carroll, who is ICG’s biggest shareholder with a 29.24 per cent stake.
It is understood that Mr Carroll has not given any undertaking that he will accept an offer for his shares.
ICG’s shares closed in Dublin yesterday unchanged at €14.75.
ICG, which operates ferry services from Ireland to the UK and France, published its full-year results yesterday. These showed that both revenues and operating profits declined last year as a result of high fuel prices and a decline in economic activity.
ICG’s revenues fell by 3.6 per cent year on year to €342.9 million while its operating profit, before an exceptional item, was down 16.6 per cent to €41.8 million.
The exceptional item was a “trading charge” of €10.1 million relating to expenses paid to the Aella consortium that made a failed bid for ICG in 2007. Aella was a management-led bid headed by Mr Rothwell.
When this item is stripped out and investment income and interest costs are factored in, ICG made a pre-tax profit of €43 million in 2008 compared with €40.7 million a year earlier. ICG’s passenger traffic declined by 6.3 per cent last year to 1.467 million while the number of cars carried was 6.9 per cent lower at 377,000.
The company’s roll-on, roll-off freight traffic fell by 8.7 per cent during the period – the first time in 20 years that this market had not grown in the Republic.
The decline in ICG’s turnover accelerated in the second half of the year, with group revenues down 8.2 per cent year on year.
ICG’s group-wide fuel costs rose by 42 per cent to €51.3 million. Mr Rothwell said ICG was not currently hedged on its fuel requirements and this bill could be 50 per cent lower than in 2008. The company is currently paying about €200 a tonne for its fuel.
Commenting on current trading, Mr Rothwell said: “It’s a challenging economic environment. We’re not immune to what’s going on in the economy. There is some evidence to suggest that people are staying close to home this year and not heading to far flung destinations so we’re hoping we can benefit from that.”
ICG’s net debt fell substantially last year to €48.7 million from €84.5 million in 2007. This is its lowest debt level since 1994.
