ALLIED Irish Banks has appoi
nted a receiver to Brian McCarthy Contractors Ltd one of the largest construction firms in the Midwest which ceased trading last month.
The bank appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG as receiver and manager to the Ennis-based firm which was in business for 36 years and employed over 220 during the boom. At that time, the firm had revenues of €70m and completed many big projects, including the 17-storey Clarion Hotel and the Irish Chamber Orchestra building at the University of Limerick.
The decision to cease trading resulted in the loss of 20 direct jobs that remained at the firm whose most recent accounts to the end of December 2010 showed borrowings of €7.39m from AIB with the bank having mortgages over company properties at Fermoy, Co Cork, Quin and Ennis in Co Clare.
Last month, a spokesman for the company said it decided to close “due to the unavailability of profitable work”.
He added that the Government awarding contracts to below-cost tenders for public works “made it very difficult to continue”.
“We have a pessimistic view of the market in Ireland. The public sector is the main market for contracts, and the new form of Government contract is so loaded against the contractor, it would have been bordering on reckless trading if we had tried to enter into these contracts.”
“It was not viable to continue and there was insufficient workload to cover overheads. It was an extremely difficult decision to cease trading, but it was also a prudent commercial decision as it was not feasible to continue.”
The company recorded losses in 2011 and was also loss-making in 2012.
Its completed projects include Glor Irish Music Centre in Ennis, the President’s House at UL and Ballydoyle Stable Complex at Coolmore stud.
