ESTATE AGENT Sherry FitzGerald is restructuring its Irish management team with Mark FitzGerald stepping aside as chief executive of the business here.
“I will be focusing on the continued development of the business overall and on increased engagement with clients,” Mr FitzGerald said in a statement to The Irish Times yesterday.
Mr FitzGerald, a co-founder of the company and substantial shareholder, will continue as chairman of the group, which also includes Marsh Parsons in London.
Sherry FitzGerald is merging the management of its commercial and residential businesses in Ireland and a chief executive will be appointed shortly to this business.
Latest filed accounts for Sherry FitzGerald Holdings Ltd show that it made a loss of €5.9 million in 2009 while turnover dropped by 12 per cent to €35.3 million.
The company recorded a loss of €13 million in 2008. It returned to profitability in 2010, recording turnover increases in both Ireland and Britain, the company said.
Turnover is believed to have increased by 6 per cent in Ireland while Marsh Parsons had a strong year. Mr FitzGerald said Sherry FitzGerald was focusing on a “return to sustainable profits”.
While the estate agent reported a loss in 2009, Mr FitzGerald said it made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of €3 million that year.
This compared with an €8.6 million loss at ebitda level in 2008.
“That result reflects a stabilisation in the group’s main markets in the second half of 2009 and the effect across the full year of a significant restructuring undertaken in the second half of 2008,” the company said.
In 2009, Sherry FitzGerald reduced staff costs by 32 per cent to €22.6 million and its operating expenses by 43 per cent to €10.8 million. It has also halved its debt over the past three years from €24.6 million to about €12 million at the end of 2010.
