Pre-tax losses at a Dublin based unit of heating, cooling and domestic appliance giant Glen Dimplex  last year increased almost three-fold to €42.62 million.

According to accounts filed by Glen Dimplex Holdings Ltd, the group recorded the increase in pre-tax losses as revenues declined by 8 per cent from €884.64 million to €793.4 million in the 12 months to the end of September last.

The chief factor behind the 178 per cent increase in pre-tax losses from €15.29 million to €42.62 million was the group incurring €20.17 million in restructuring costs after a spend of €6.5 million under that heading in 2019.

The group’s €22.6 million total cost for non-trading items included a €2.5 million donation for educational purposes and this followed €16,000 under that heading in 2019.

Loss

Glen Dimplex recorded an operating loss of €10.2 million for 2020 which was an increase of 23 per cent on the 2019 operating loss of €8.3 million.

On the impact of Covid-19, the accounts said that “whilst sales have reduced year on year, they have recovered in Q4 of 2020 and have remained steady post year end”. However the company is confident that it is well placed manage the impact of Covid-19 and continues to monitor the situation closely.

The accounts said that a number of sites within the group had to close for a period during the year due to mandatory government restrictions.

“The group availed of wage support/furlough schemes in the jurisdiction that it operates in and undertook cost cutting measures where appropriate.”

The accounts confirmed that the group received €8 million in State Covid-19 subsidy schemes across a number of jurisdictions last year.

It was also confirmed that the group made a number of strategic decisions in order to negate the challenges it faced,  including undertaken restructuring programmes and are making a major investment in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system

The directors’ report aid that the trading environment in the UK is challenging following the decision of the UK to exit the EU. It said that the group was in a strong position with cash at €229.7 million at the end of September .

The group’s research and development (R&D) expenditure last year totalled €27.3 million. In 2019 the R&D spend was €30.9 million.

Costs

Last year’s loss takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €23.97 million. Directors’ pay increased from €996,000 to €1.47 million.

A breakdown of revenues shows that €606 million of sales were recorded in the EU with €109 million in North America; €46.2 million in “rest of world” and €31.34 million in “rest of Europe”.

Numbers employed reduced from 4,696 to 4,505 as staff costs fell from €250 million to €225 million. The bulk of employees are employed in production at 2,412, 1,063 in selling and distribution, 663 in administration and 366 in research and development. Shareholder funds at the end of September last year totalled €256.76 million.