Dunnes' Northern firm in €284m payout
The Dunnes Stores retail empire last year received a £250m (€284m) dividend from its main Northern Ireland based company.
New accounts filed by Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd, which cover takings from its stores in the North and in Britain, show that it paid out the huge dividend payment to connected firms in the Dunnes group.
The size of the payout is much larger than previous years, having paid out £310,000 in 2015 and £760,000 in 2014.
Anne Heffernan and Sharon McMahon were appointed as directors to Dunnes companies. Ms Heffernan and Ms McMahon join Margaret Heffernan and Frank Dunne on the board of Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Ltd.
The accounts show the company posted a pre-tax loss of £5.1m last year, though the main factor was the firm writing down the value of assets by £7.5m.
The firm recorded the loss after revenues dropped by 21.7% to £99.85m. However, the revenues are for more than 47 weeks to December 22 last year compared with the full 52-week trading period in the previous year.
The Newry, Co Down, registered firm’s revenues are generated from the North’s 17 stores and the six stores in England and Scotland.
The accounts offer the only insight into the finances of the family-owned business as Dunnes Stores has unlimited status in the Republic and is not required to file annual accounts to the Companies Office.
Staff numbers last year fell from 1,474 to 1,289, while staff costs dropped from £18.47m to £15.2m. “Key management” personnel costs were cited at £463,000.
