Profits leap to €2.1m at family-owned fish distributor HJ Nolan

PROFITS at the main firm of fish distributor HJ Nolan increased by 81pc to €2.17m last year.

New accounts show that HJ Nolan (Dublin) Ltd recorded the sharp increase in profits as the owners paid themselves a €750,000 dividend in the 12 months to the end of March last year.

Last January the firm announced that it was merging with Co Mayobased Carr & Sons Seafood Ltd.

Separate accounts for Carr and Sons Seafood Ltd show that it is also profitable – its most recent accounts for 2017 show that its profits increased by 47pc to €313,650.

At the end of December 2017, accumulated profits at Carr & Sons Seafood Ltd stood at €979,961 and the numbers it employed stood at 72.

In a year of considerable change for the family-owned HJ Nolan, the directors said that since the end of the year, the business has taken the decision to sell the lands and building at its Dublin headquarters.

Plans were lodged last October by NTM ROI Seed Capital LP with An Bord Pleanála for 289 units of student accommodation at the HJ Nolan site on Dublin’s Rathdown Rd.

In February, the appeals board gave the plan the go-ahead in spite of some local opposition concerned at the scale of student accommodation planned for the area.

Nolans is still a family affair with George Nolan, the grandson of founder Harry James, its chairman.

At the end of March 2018, the firm’s accumulated profits totalled €5m. The company’s shareholder funds totalled €5.4m, including €2.89m in cash.

The profit at the company last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €144,668. The numbers employed fell from 48 to 44.

Pay to directors decreased from €329,225 to €278,156.

Pay last year was made up of remuneration of €176,837 and pension contributions of €101,319.