One of Northern Ireland’s largest companies has registered a 12-month turnover of over £1bn for the first time.
LCC Group Holdings in Co Tyrone, which is owned by the Loughran family, had reported 18-month turnover of £1.7bn up to March 31 2023.
But reverting to a 12-month reporting period, it has now recorded turnover of £1.2bn in its latest accounts, the first year for it to pass the £1bn mark.
And pre-tax profits were £45m for the year, following a level of £60.2m for the previous 18 months.
The company’s ultimate parent company has a registered office address in Douglas on the Isle of Man.
The Cookstown-based company runs a variety of businesses under the Go brand, including electricity supplier Go Power, petrol stations and drive-thru coffee shops.
News Catch Up – Wednesday 8 January
The strategic report attached to the accounts says that “the company has continued to consolidate its position as a leading importer and distributor within the coal and oil market in the United Kingdom, Ireland and wider European market.
“It continued its roll out of ‘Go’ formatted sites. The company is confident of the outlook in terms of sales and profits for the current year and continues to seek out new investment opportunities.”
If the 2023 accounts figures are adjusted to cover a 12-month period, LCC Group Holdings has actually recorded a slight bump in turnover from £1.1bn to reach £1.2bn.
The company’s cost of sales was £1.1bn, while it spent around £11m on administrative expenses in the same time frame. This compares to a £1.6bn cost of sales and £16m of administrative expenses in the 18 months beforehand.
Since the last filed accounts, the company has seen a 44% increase in money owed to it by debtors, with the figure rising from £94m to £137m.
The amount of cash held in bank and at hand by LCC Group also went up 8%, from £137m to £148m.
However the amount the company owes to creditors falling due within one year has gone up by 25% since March April 2023, from £172m to £216m.
The company employed around 19% more people on average than in the previous year, with employee numbers, rising from 205 to 244.
Staff costs for the 12 month period fell to £10.1m from the 18-month figure of around £12m for the previous accounting period.
Once all these revenue streams and costs are accounted for, LCC Group made a pre-tax profit of £45m, which was a rise from the adjusted figure around £40m they made in the year before.
The strategic report also assesses the risks the company faces in the course of doing business. It says: “The company’s operations expose it to a variety of financial risks that include the effects of changes in debt market prices, credit risk, liquidity risk and interest rate risk.
“The company has in place a risk management programme that seeks to limit the adverse effects on the financial performance of the company by monitoring levels of debt finance and the related finance cost.”
In 2024, it applied for a licence to generate power at a power station in Belfast Harbour.