This article is from page 6 of the 2007-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
SHANNON-based industrial dia- mond manufacturing company Ele- ment Six Ltd increased the size of its business last year by almost 20 per Cone
According to accounts filed to the Companies Office, the company — whose principal activity is the manufacture and sale of industrial diamonds — also returned to profit last year after recording a loss of $9 million in 2005.
The accounts show that Element Six recorded a profit before tax in 2006 of $2 million. The company — formerly de Beers — increased its turnover from $279 million to $331 million in 2006.
According to the accounts the com- pany had a gross profit of $160 mil- lion up on the $131 million in 2005.
During 2006, the company an- nounced 75 job losses as part of a restructuring programme with two- thirds of the redundancies coming from support staff, and the balance coming from production operations.
The accounts show that the numbers employed at the facility at the end of 2006 was 580 — up from the 567 em- ployed at the end of 2005. Staff costs in 2006 came to $43 million. How-
ever, sales and administrative costs have significantly increased.
The costs of sales increased from $123 million to $147 million and administrative costs went up 67 per cent from $74 million to $124 mil- |bTeyee
The company paid a dividend of $89 million in 2004, however, no dividend was paid last year.
The company supplies products all over the world and the markets main- ly served with industrial diamond and related products are the United States of America, China, Japan and all countries within the European Union.
The statement accompanying the accounts show that “currently the company is investing in continuing research and development into new products and technologies and it is hoped to increase market share and profitability in the foreseeable fu- ture.
“Taking into account Element Six’s long and established history in the manufacture of industrial diamonds, it is expected that the company will at least retain its market share in the foreseeable future.”
The company has no major devel- opments planned for the manufactur- ing side of the business.