Accumulated losses at the Irish subsidiary of Declan Ganley's Rivada Networks increased by 17 per cent to more than €1 million, according to accounts just filed with the companies office.
The Irish-based subsidiary of Rivada Networks International LLC was established by Mr Ganley in 2005.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Ganley said he expected losses to increase at the subsidiary here on the basis that it is the gateway for the company's European expansion.
“The stage we are in our growth we’d expect losses to continue for a while. The strategy is to commoditise bandwidth and that’s expensive and requires a lot of debt and a lot of equity to get where we’re going,” he said.
The number of staff at Rivada Networks Ltd rose to 11 with payroll costs increasing by almost 19 per cent to €1.17 million. Directors’ remuneration increased marginally to €318,469.
Staff numbers are expected to continue to rise at the group’s Galway location as the company expands its activities. “We’ve done some more hiring already this year,” Mr Ganley said.
A directors’ note attached to the accounts said Rivada would be dependent on the group and its directors for financial support for the foreseeable future. Without this support, the “company may be unable to discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business”.
Both Mr Ganley and the other company director, Ken Fields, saw their shareholdings in the company decline in 2016. By the end of the year, Mr Ganley held 23.96 per cent while Mr Fields had 7.89 per cent.
Mr Ganley's first entrepreneurial successes included timber exports and the privatisation of sawmills and forestry assets in Latvia and Russia in the late 1990s. These were later sold to a group led by business magnate George Soros.
