Tiger burns bright with €1m dividend payout
THE Irish arm of retail chain Flying Tiger Copenhagen said that 2017 has been a strong year as the retailer continued toexpandhere.
A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the continued growth as new accounts show that the company recorded a 28pc decline in pre-tax profits last year to €1.33m in spite of revenues rising.
Tiger Retail Ireland Ltd is 50pc owned by husband and wife team Gillian Maxwell and Niall Stringer, with the remainder owned by the Danish parent, Zebra A/S. Revenues increased by 12.5pc from €13.9m to €15.755m.
The company paid a dividend last year of €1m.
Numbers employed by the company increased from 160 to 229 as the business continued to expand across the country. Staff costs at the company increased from €2.8m to €3.9m.
The profit last year took account of non-cash depreciation costs of €480,657.
The spokeswoman said: “Tiger Retail Ireland continued to build its presence and business structure in Ireland in 2016. “
She said that the firm focused on opening four stores during the 2016 trading period “and rebranding and refreshing existing stores to our new brand of Flying Tiger Copenhagen”.
She added: “We have opened two stores in 2017 and look forward to our next opening next week in Aungier Street in Dublin.”
On next year, she said: “We expect to continue our expansion in 2018 with a number
of new stores planned and particularly focused in the south east: 2017 to date has been strong and we look forward to a really good fourth quarter.” The directors said future growth is dependent on finding suitable high profile, high footfall locations at appropriate rental levels. Directors’ remuneration last year totalled €133,700. Zebra sold €5.24m worth of goods to the firm last year. Meanwhile, the wider retail sales sector was effectively flat in August, but remain well up on last year despite a slow down in new car sales. The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that retail sales fell 4.2pc in August, though are up 4.7pc on the previous year.