Engineering firm Murphy International double profits
Projects including the Lee Road Water Treatment Plant (above) and the Stillorgan Reservoir were all successfully completed and commissioned during the year.
Pre-tax profits at the civil engineering group, Murphy International which upgraded the water treatment plant that accounts for 70% of Cork city’s water supply, more than doubled to €21.24m last year.
New accounts show that the Newbridge-based Murphy International Ltd and its subsidiaries recorded the 124.5% jump in pre-tax profits as revenues climbed by 43% from €147.8m to €211.45m.
The directors state that the increase in revenue is attributable to new projects commencing in the financial year "and the agreement of final accounts on legacy projects”.
The directors state the order book across all Murphy Ireland sectors is strong.
Numbers employed by the group increased by 48 from 501 to 549 as staff costs rose from €40.79m to €44.77m.
Directors’ pay, including pension payments, last year increased from €503,617 to €563,742.
The business paid out a dividend of €7.5m during the year. The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €3.2m.
The directors state that in line with the continued growth of the Irish economy, Murphy International Ltd continued to expand in 2022 and "the year out-turn exceeded all targets”.
They state that projects including the Lee Road Water Treatment Plant and the Stillorgan Reservoir were all successfully completed and commissioned during the year. The state of the art Lee Road Water Treatment plant accounts for 70% of Cork city’s water supply.
On the group’s strong order book across all sectors, the directors state that 66% of the group revenue in 2022 was Government-backed public works contracts.
They state that “the balance comes from external customers of which there is a strong order book with 85% of 2023 revenue secured and 60% of 2024 revenue secured”.
The business last year generated revenues of €145.1m in the Republic of Ireland and €66.34m in the UK.
The directors state that the business has several medium to long term contracts “which allow us to absorb market and economic fluctuations”.
They state that recent framework wins for Gas Networks Ireland, Dublin Port and South East Water “have further strengthened our position as we continue to concentrate on the quality of our order book”.
They state that “market inflation has slowed. Our preference for clients that retain inflation risk has greatly protected us from the volatility that has existed over the past two years".
The directors’ report states that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was €24.6m last year compared to €12.2m for 2021.
The directors state that the €10m jump in post tax profits to €18.68m "is attributable to the favourable agreement of final accounts on a number of projects in 2022”.
The directors state that the group last year commenced construction on a new state of the art steel fabrication building which will more than double the group’s capacity to produce high quality heavy fabricated structures”.
They state that the news fabrication building was due to open in August 2023.
At the end of 2022, the group had accumulated profits of €41.4m. The group’s cash funds last year increased sharply from €2.07m to €18.8m.
The Irish business is a subsidiary of the UK headquartered J Murphy & Sons Ltd which last year recorded pre-tax profits of £44.5m as revenues climbed to £1.49bn.
J Murphy & Sons Ltd, today employs 3,500 globally.
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