SME State Aid
Enterprise Ireland has deep pockets to invest in businesses with global ambition. Robert O’Brien reports on some of the state aid recipients in 2020
Enterprise Ireland has deep pockets to invest in ventures with ambition, as these latest recipients of taxpayer funding illustrate
CREST SOLUTIONS
Crest Solutions saw its annual revenue increase by more than one third to €25m in 2019, while net profit nearly doubled to €1m. The Cork company provides engineering services and solutions to multinational pharma and medical devices clients in Ireland, UK, Europe and the US.
As Covid-19 took hold in April 2020, Crest Solutions received €1.6m state aid from taxpayers through Enterprise Ireland. The same month, Crest announced a new business venture with long-time partners Xyntek in the US and VistaLink in Belgium to form CXV Global.
CEO Frank Madden said that CXV Global will provide manufacturing operations management, systems automation and machine imaging services on a global scale with a multisite setup. The combined entity employs c.300 staff in Ireland, Europe, the US and Latin America.
Crest Solutions was founded by Madden (52) in 1998, prior to which he’d worked as an operations manager in product supply for Apple. Last year’s EI funding followed a €250,000 payment from the agency in 2012.
Crest Solutions ended 2019 with cash of €4.6m and net worth of c.€2.7m. Trade debtors were €6.2m and c.135 staff were employed in the company. In February 2020, a few months before the taxpayer funding arrived, the directors declared a €2m dividend for shareholders, which was double the payout of the previous year.