TNT Express Ireland, a delivery service company, has reported a drop in revenue for 2012, citing a "very difficult year" for the company.

A major cost-reduction programme impacted on performance, it said yesterday with the publication of its 2012 accounts. Although recording a pretax profit of €2.3 million, this fell from €2.6 million in 2011. As of December last year it had noted net assets worth €10.1 million, down from €18.1 million the previous year.

Reviewing business activity, TNT Ireland said it was “a very difficult year with revenues falling by 8.6 per cent [€3.52 million] as the economic downturn continued to impact our customers”.

“The company continued with its cost-reduction programme in an effort to reduce the overall costs in the year which resulted in a decrease of 8.6 per cent in 2012.”

TNT provides a range of “door-to-door” express delivery services and last year employed a total of 206 employees, down marginally from 211 in 2011. Wage costs were cut from €7.3 million to €6.5 million.