State company Bord na Móna released its 2019 Annual Report which revealed that the group lost almost €50 million in the year ending 27 March 2019.
The company’s revenue for the year fell by 3.7% to €380 million, as it took a hit from decarbonisation programme costs, with financial costs amounting to approximately €91.4 million.
Bord na Móna Chairman, Geoff Meagher, said that the results show “a new Bord na Móna that has changed direction”, travelling on the radically different, ‘Brown to Green’ course that it launched one year ago.
Brown to Green
The ‘Brown to Green' Strategy highlights that 70% of Bord na Móna generated electricity will be renewable by 2020, with an accelerated development pipeline to deliver in excess of 3 terawatt-hours (equal to a sustained power of about 114 megawatts for a period of one year) of renewable electricity annually by 2030.
The company said that the majority delivered through onshore wind farms.
“It has not been an easy year for the company,” Geoff Meagher said. “Decarbonisation involves a significant cost, firstly for our employees, as well as the financial one reflected in the exceptional items reported today.”
“This is an essential part of our journey and that change momentum needs to be maintained over the coming years. The prize for us in this transition is a new Bord na Móna that provides replacement employment over time in financially sound, sustainable businesses.”
Approximately €42 million of this involved the costs of the voluntary redundancy scheme, while €10 million is being invested in new business projects, the group’s CEO, Tom Donnellan, said.
“All of this investment in decarbonisation will pay dividends in future years, as Brown to Green involves an accelerated shift into existing low-carbon activities and the development of other replacement employment in new businesses,” he said.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
