‘Solid growth' for Origin Enterprises drives increased revenues
This represents an 4.1% increase year-on-year, which the company said reflected 'solid organic growth' across both its agriculture and Living Landscapes divisions.
The trading update published today (Thursday, June 12) shows that quarter three (Q3) revenue was up by 12.8% on the same period last year.
Excluding crop marketing, Origin said that group revenue year-to-date (YTD) increased by 6.7%.
This was driven by a 7.4% increase in volumes as demand for agriculture-related products and services recovered, a 0.7% contribution from acquisitions and 0.7% from currency, partially offset by a 2.1% decline in pricing.
Origin Enterprises
In agriculture, Origin saw overall reported revenue of €1.45 billion, a 2.6% increase YTD.
Ireland and the UK recorded a 6.7% increase in revenue to €901.3 million YTD, with a strong Q3 performance delivering a 20.8% increase in reported revenue to €470.9 million.
Underlying volumes increased 8.3% YTD (Q3: 19.7%) which was partially offset by a pricing headwind of 3.8%.
Origin said that the total autumn and winter wheat area in the UK is 1.67 million hectares, a 24% increase on the previous year.
'Combined spring and winter cropping is expected to be largely in line with prior year at 4 million hectares, as we see a return to more winter from spring planting.
'Increased demand for key plant protection inputs reflects the recovery in winter cropping, with dry spring conditions enabling early spring drilling and favourable windows for in-field activity.
'Dry conditions have resulted in lower disease pressure and yield expectations, and combined with weaker output pricing, this may lead to more selective in-season input use as growers adapt to conditions,' the company said.
Origin noted strong performances in both soil nutrition and animal nutrition in the region.
Source: Origin Enterprises
Continental Europe reported a revenue decline of 2.6% to €443.8 million YTD, primarily due to lower revenue in the crop marketing division reflecting reduced grain prices.
Excluding crop marketing, revenue grew 5.7% YTD, with underlying volumes increasing by 4.3%, driven by strong demand for key inputs.
In Poland, spring crops have progressed well, supported by favourable in-field conditions that enabled timely planting. The total cropping area is expected to be broadly in line with the previous year at around 9 million hectares.
In Romania, crops are also well established, supported by recent rainfall that has improved soil moisture. Combined winter and spring plantings are expected to be in line with last year at approximately 8.9 million hectares.
Origin said that Latin America delivered revenues of €104.3 million YTD, a 7% increase on a constant currency basis (-7.7% reported decrease).
Strong volume growth of 9.6% in underlying performance was offset by reduced pricing of 2.6%.
The company noted that currency continues to be 'a significant headwind' with a 14.7% negative impact on reported performance year-on-year.
Crop establishment across the region is progressing well, with favourable weather enabling expanded plantings.
Origin said that its Living Landscapes division reported revenue of €137.2 million, up almost 24% YTD.
The company said that strong underlying growth of 12% and favourable trading conditions drove increased demand across the portfolio.
Origin Enterprises CEO Sean Coyle
Sean Coyle, Origin Enterprises chief executive officer, said the group 'delivered an encouraging performance in the first nine months'.
'Improved momentum in Q3 was driven by favourable application conditions for crop inputs and an increased winter cropping area in the northern hemisphere, together with strong demand in Living Landscapes supported by recent acquisitions.
'Despite the impact of the depreciation of the Brazilian Real versus the Euro, we expect our increasingly diversified earnings base will result in operating profit growth in 2025 and guide full year adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 50c to 52c.
'We remain on track to deliver the Group's stated financial and operational targets for the period FY2022 to FY2026 as outlined at the 2022 Capital Markets Day,' he said.
Origin Enterprises will announce its preliminary results for the 2025 financial year (FY25) on September 23, 2025.
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Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Séamus ‘Banty' McEnaney family group was paid €24m in three months for homeless and refugee housing
Family companies of former Monaghan GAA football team manager Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney were paid €24.4 million for supplying emergency accommodation in the first three months of this year, publicly available figures show. The family group has grown rapidly over recent years providing emergency accommodation to asylum seekers, people fleeing the war in Ukraine and the homeless , while accumulating an expanding property portfolio. The €24.4 million income figure is based on data from the Department of Integration (now part of the Department of Justice), which pays for accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainians around the State, and Dublin City Council, which pays for emergency accommodation for homeless people in Dublin city. The group is also involved in providing homeless accommodation outside the Dublin City Council area. Revenue from that activity is not included in the €24.4 million figure. READ MORE During the first three months of this year the group received €14.4 million for the provision of accommodation nationally to asylum seekers and Ukrainians out of the total of €401 million paid to all private sector operators, according to the latest quarterly report from the department on purchasing orders exceeding €20,000. Last year the group was paid €63.3 million for providing accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainians, the quarterly reports show. [ 'The fault lies with the State': how a former GAA manager made over €200m from housing refugees and the homeless ] The council began publishing the names of private sector providers of emergency accommodation for homeless people this year. The first quarterly report shows 14 McEnaney companies were paid more than €10 million from the total of €53.4 million paid to all private sector entities during the period. The McEnaney Group comprises companies owned by various members of the wider family, does not have an overall holding company, and does not produce consolidated accounts. The group is involved in renting out its own property and property leased from others, according to company filings. One of the larger group companies is Brimwood Unlimited, which has its registered office in Corvalley, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and was incorporated in 2019. The company's directors are Mr McEnaney (58), and his daughters Laura (32) and Sarah (26). As an unlimited company, Brimwood does not publish financial accounts. Tailte Éireann (formerly Land Registry) and planning application records show the company owns Dún a Rí House, Station Road, Kingscourt, Co Cavan; Avondale Guest House, at 40 and 41 Gardiner Street, Dublin 1; 15 to 17 Drumcondra Road Lower, Dublin 9; 37 Drumcondra Road Upper, Dublin; and the Airport Manor Hotel in Knocksedan, Co Dublin. A reply to a Dáil question in 2023 shows Brimwood was also associated with the provision of accommodation for international protection applicants in other locations, mainly in Dublin, Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan and Louth. 15 Usher's Island. Photograph: Aidan Crawley Last year Brimwood submitted planning applications in relation to 46 Cabra Road, Dublin 7, 34 North Circular Road, Dublin 7, and 15 Usher's Island, Dublin 8, the site of the fictional dinner at the centre of the James Joyce story The Dead. [ Plan to return house in Usher's Island that was setting for Joyce's The Dead to residential use Opens in new window ] The company received €5.5 million from the department in the first three months of this year and €1 million from the council. Another group company, JMA Ventures Ltd, incorporated in 2021 and with an address at Tydavnet, Co Monaghan, is owned by Mr McEnaney's nephew, James McCarville (35). The company was paid €5.1 million by the department in the first three months of this year, and €170,748 by Dublin City Council. The company's latest accounts show the value of its property doubled to more than €3 million during the year to the end of August 2024 and Mr McCarville, the sole director, was paid €1.3 million. Property records show it owns apartments at Westside, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, and made a technical planning application in December 2024 to the council for 101 Northern Circular Road, Dublin 7. Planning files show the council decided the continued use of the Dublin building, which was divided into nine units, to house homeless people to whom care was not being provided, was not a development requiring planning permission. In 2023 An Bord Pleanála, now An Coimisiún Pleanála, found against Brimwood on its property on Drumcondra Road, finding that the building was in effect a type of hostel and required planning approval. Oakgate Ltd, a holding company on Farney Street, Carrickmacross, owned by Mr McEnaney's sisters, Margaret McCarville (63) and Bernadette Walsh (48), recorded an after-tax profit of €1.9 million in the year to April 2024. At that date it had assets of €323,616, accumulated profits of €4.4 million, and cash in the bank of €5 million, according to its accounts. It was paid €4.8 million for the accommodation of asylum seekers and Ukrainians in the 15 months to the end of March. Fernboro Ltd, with an address on Farney Street, Carrickmacross, is owned by Mr McEnaney's son John (33) and his nephew Gary McEnaney (40). It has no registered mortgages but acquired property worth €6.4 million in the year to the end of August 2024, when it recorded an after-tax profit of €579,593. It was paid €855,012 by Dublin City Council in the first three months of this year and €1.3 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March. Some of the McEnaney companies show property being acquired without bank borrowings. Others show borrowings from other group companies. Others again show money being borrowed from nonbank businesses. Highgrove Property Ltd was incorporated in 2021 and has it registered office on Crowe Street, Dundalk, Co Louth. The directors of the company, which was paid €3.5 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March, are Gary and John McEnaney, and Orla Marron (42). Ms Marron is the wife of Ciaran Marron, founder of Activ8 Solar Energies . Mr Marron is the owner of a company in Carrickmacross called Accessridge Ltd, the latest accounts for which show it was owed €1.9 million by Highgrove at the end of 2023. Longfield Ventures Ltd was incorporated in 2018 and has an address at Longfield, Carrickmacross. It is owned by Gary and John McEnaney and was paid €4.9 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March. The company registered a mortgage in November 2024 in favour of Hanlon Transport Ltd, of Greenore, Co Louth. The property mortgaged is listed as the Hotel Rosslare, St Martin's Road, Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford, and The Square, Bettystown, Co Meath. The 2024 accounts for Longfield show it made an after-tax profit of €917,010 and was owed €9.9 million by other McEnaney companies at year's end. [ Seamus 'Banty' McEnaney group earns more than €10m in three months for housing Dublin homeless Opens in new window ] The McEnaney group has offices on the ground floor of Essex House, on the corner of Essex Street and Parliament Street in Temple Bar, Dublin 8. The building was acquired by Corduff JG Enterprises Ltd in August 2022 and no mortgage is registered. The same company also owns Bridge House, 24/25 Parliament Street, which adjoins Essex House. Corduff JG Enterprises, of Crowe Street, Dundalk, was incorporated in 2017. It is owned by Gavin McEnaney, was paid €4.3 million by the department in the 15 months to the end of March and was paid €264,396 by Dublin City Council in the first three months of this year. It also owns 42 and 43 Blessington Street, Dublin 7, and property on Blessington Lane, behind the Blessington Street properties. Corduff recorded an after-tax profit of €2.1 million in 2023, down from €2.8 million the previous year, according to its 2023 accounts. It paid a dividend of €2 million to Gavin McEnaney Holdings Ltd, which is owned by Gavin McEnaney, and which received dividends of €3.5 million that year. The holding company had accumulated profits at the end of that year of €12.3 million. As well as his involvement in the provision of emergency accommodation, Séamus McEnaney is also the owner of a building company, Clarlan Ltd, which owns several sites outside Dublin. In 2018 Westenra Arms Hotel Ltd in the Diamond in Monaghan town, of which Mr McEnaney is a shareholder and director, made a settlement with Revenue Commissioners of more than €2.5 million arising from the underdeclaration of PAYE, PRSI, Universal Social Charge and VAT. The settlement included almost €1 million in penalties. A request for an interview with Mr McEnaney was declined.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
An answer to Ireland's housing crisis is right behind us
When you are in a crisis, the choice is never between good and bad – it's always between bad and worse. Ireland has a housing crisis . We have far too many people and not enough homes for them. We can't seem to build quickly enough in the right areas at the right price. All the while, rising rent and house prices are prompting tens of thousands of young educated Irish people to emigrate . As argued here last month , our immigration policy is giving out too many work visas relative to the economy's ability to house these new migrants. There is too little supply and too much demand. The solution must include a reduction in immigration rates and a simultaneous increase in home building. In the short term, all bottlenecks to building should be removed while the number of people coming into the country needs to be capped, which means identifying a number for sustainable migration and sticking to it for a specific time period. READ MORE Facing a crisis resolutely is often described as the 'Dunkirk strategy', where you achieve your goals however you can, galvanising all your resources. At Dunkirk, rather than waiting for navy frigates to evacuate the stranded British army, the war cabinet commandeered every boat possible – fishing boats, yachts, pleasure boats, the lot. The objective in the crisis was: do whatever necessary. One housing-related idea under discussion is the notion that Irish people should be allowed (or even encouraged) to build small homes in their back gardens for the family to alleviate the pressure on the rental market. As long as the homes are within a specific size and meet some specific guidelines, families should be allowed to do what they want, right? [ We need to confront the reality that the housing shortage can't be solved Opens in new window ] This seems pretty sensible and, while it is hardly a universal solution, as an incremental move it's a start. The back gardens of many homes are potentially an amazing resource. In place of Nimbyism, living in the garden could be the start of a Yimbyism movement: yes in my back yard. Although some have voiced opposition, the international evidence is overwhelmingly positive. Allowing people to build in their back garden creates reasonably priced homes in the right areas. In North America, removing planning barriers in recent years has unleashed huge growth in small garden homes. For example, in three years Seattle tripled its permits to build what they call secondary dwelling units. In California, permits surged by 15,334 per cent. In Vancouver today, roughly 35 per cent of single-family lots host a laneway or secondary suite. These are families taking the housing crisis into their own hands and building in their gardens. Why would you stop them? In the Irish context, how big might this garden housing opportunity be? The Dublin City Council area contains about 3,305 hectares of private gardens. To give you a sense of how big this is, consider 8,262 Croke Parks. Now you get the picture. These are already residential-zoned, serviced plots located in prime, established urban areas. By contrast, empty brownfield sites are scarce in Ireland because even though dereliction is rife, there simply isn't enough derelict land to meet targets. If we want to avoid more sprawl and longer commutes, new greenfield development should be curtailed. Ireland's national policy is already aiming for 40 per cent of new housing to be built in existing urban areas. Gardens are already inside the cities. Ireland has hundreds of thousands of square metres of ready-to-go residential land in gardens. A think tank called Progress Ireland has run some of the numbers to see how many small homes could be built in existing gardens. 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Four times the density means that public infrastructure might be as much as four times more effective. The more we build outwards, the worse our infrastructure will be and the more it will cost. Speaking of cost, a basic two-bedroom log cabin for a garden is estimated to run about €30,000–€42,000, making it an attractive solution for intergenerational living or as a 'starter' home for a young person on family land. Contrast this with the cost of a two-bed apartment in Ireland or a similar starter home on a new estate. This sort of microdevelopment needs to be part of an overall housing plan. It can't hurt. I understand many people will regard commandeering back gardens as a gimmick, putting people in a glorified shed or cabin rather than fixing the housing problem permanently. I get it. But anything that reduces pressure on the rental market must be considered for the short term. Having sons and daughters living in their own place beside their parents, or vice versa, might also have dramatic family positives (although it might also have the opposite effect in some cases). The aim is to reduce the acute pressure. Many younger people might love to live, for a while at least, in the place where they grew up, with a modicum of independence and their own front door. Why should the State, which has failed to provide proper housing, object to this stopgap? Last year Ireland built only 33,500 houses, a pathetic number. Even if we were to build 50,000 a year, which would be quite an achievement, we are a long way from bringing supply and demand into alignment. On the demand side, migration must be reduced if we are to have any hope of stabilising prices. On the supply side, a Dunkirk emergency strategy must be accepted, however unpalatable to some.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
How former GAA manager Séamus ‘Banty' McEnaney made over €200m from housing refugees and the homeless
Almost seven years ago the Government started moving newly arrived asylum seekers into hotels and B&Bs on a temporary basis because the State's direct provision system was full. By early 2019 almost 6,600 international protection applicants were living in the Republic. A few hundred of these were living in emergency accommodation. Today almost 33,000 applicants are living in State-provided accommodation with 25,000 in emergency accommodation. An average of 1,000 people are arriving in Ireland each month seeking protection each month, according to the Department of Justice. A letter from the secretary general of the Department of Integration to the Public Accounts Committee reveals that the Government first approached a company called Brimwood Ltd in September 2018 for help in securing additional accommodation for asylum seekers. READ MORE The department contacted Brimwood on a recommendation from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, which had previously used property provided by the company, according to the letter sent in 2023. [ Séamus McEnaney family group was paid €24m in three months for homeless and refugee housing ] It details how Brimwood Ltd subsequently entered into contracts with the Reception and Integration Agency, now the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS), 'either directly in its own hotels or indirectly by sourcing accommodation in other hotels and guest houses that they lease from the owners through their own contractual arrangements.' Brimwood was the only intermediary used by IPAS between 2018 and 2021 to source this housing. Seven years later, Brimwood Unlimited continues supplying accommodation for asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees across the country, earning €24 million in State contracts last year. The company received €5.6 million in IPAS payments during the first three months of the year. The directors of Brimwood are Séamus McEnaney (57) and his daughters Sarah (26) and Laura (32). It is an unlimited company so it does not have to publish financial accounts where it might show the profits it makes. Companies owned by the former Monaghan GAA manager and his wider family were also paid more than €14 million for housing asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees in the first three months of this year. There were paid additional sums of more than €10 million for providing accommodation to homeless people to Dublin City Council in the same period. Overall the family companies are estimated to have been paid more than €200 million for the provision of emergency accommodation since late 2018. Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney, born and raised in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, was the youngest of five brothers in a family of nine children. He earned the nickname 'Banty' from his father who declared his youngest son was a 'banty hen' because of the barrel chest he had as a child due to poor health. McEnaney left school at 11 and started working in a local bar. Within a few years, he was holding down a day job in the local chicken house and worked nights at Oasis outside the town, described in the 1980s as Ireland's biggest nightclub. A few years after opening Banty's Bar in 1987, McEnaney and his brothers purchased the Fiddler's Elbow, a popular local restaurant and nightclub in Carrickmacross. The group of brothers continued to build their property portfolio through the 1990s and early 2000s. McEnaney and his brothers also played for the local Corduff GAA football team; his brother Pat went on to become a high-profile GAA referee. One former schoolmate of the brothers recalls how closely knit the family were – 'the joke was if you kicked one of the McEnaneys, all five would come limping after you'. Séamus, who was always the frontman in business dealings, has 'great charisma and energy' but also an 'unshakeable self-confidence', says the former schoolmate. In 2005, shortly after purchasing the Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan town, McEnaney took over as manager of Monaghan GAA football team, a position he held until 2010. After a two-year stint managing Meath, McEnaney managed Wexford in 2016 but stepped down the following year. He returned to Monaghan, managing the senior team from 2019 to 2022. 'He lit a fire under that team after 15 years of being in the doldrums,' says the schoolmate. 'He was a great motivator but not a great strategist. There's still a question whether he was a successful manager – he was and he wasn't.' Then Monaghan manager Séamus McEnaney talks to the squad after a game in 2001. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho The McEnaney family was badly hit by the recession. In 2011 a High Court judgment of almost €13.5 million was secured by AIB against McEnaney. The debt, McEnaney said at the time, related to development land. Shortly before the Covid pandemic, news of the McEnaney family's rapidly growing earnings through IPAS contracts began to spread. Football fans at one preseason Monaghan game shouted abuse from the stands at McEnaney, according to one prominent figure in Ulster GAA, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'It's massively changed how people see him,' says the GAA figure. 'Making money off the back of this would really irk people. There's obviously people who have a gripe about him doing well with this. The family always drive big cars and are in corporate boxes; they're not afraid to splash it – and that creates begrudgery.' The State's almost exclusive reliance on private companies, such as those owned by the McEnaney family, to house international protection applicants, is unusual in a European context. A 2022 report from the European Asylum Support Office found most EU countries use State-owned centralised systems or mixed models – State authorities and civil society or private operators – to house asylum seekers. In the UK, state contracts are a source of great wealth for private operators. In May, Graham King, founder of the migrant-housing company Clearsprings Ready Homes, acquired the unofficial title of Britain's 'asylum billionaire' after he joined the Sunday Times Rich List of new billionaires. Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council Relying on private companies to secure housing for asylum seekers is 'significantly eroding public confidence' in our asylum system, says Irish Refugee Council chief executive Nick Henderson. 'We don't need our own asylum billionaire,' he says. 'These people are providing a service and they're making money from it but it's not necessarily their fault. The fault ultimately lies with the State.' The lack of independent inspections of these centres is also concerning, says Henderson. Since January 2024, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has carried out periodic inspections of permanent IPAS centres, which represent just 11 per cent of the 324 centres across the State. Standards in emergency accommodation vary widely, from tented accommodation, to private rooms in hotels and dormitory-style accommodation in repurposed office buildings. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said it was involved in 'regular unannounced inspections of the accommodation centres to encourage compliance'. 'People residing in emergency accommodation tend to experience poorer standards' and live in 'more random or unsuitable locations', says Henderson. Spending millions of euro on this housing is 'ultimately a dead spend,' he adds. 'Let's accommodate people in a way that benefits residents but also gives integrity to the system,' he says. 'That requires very significant political will, to wean the Government off its reliance on emergency accommodation.' Mike Allen, director of advocacy with homeless charity Focus Ireland, says this same reliance on private contractors to secure homeless housing has become a policy of 'repeated short-termism'. Constantly operating in crisis mode, without a long-term strategy, leaves the State in a 'weak bargaining position' where local authorities are 'almost begging private providers to find accommodation', says Allen. 'In some way, homeless people become implicated in this waste of public money,' he adds. Like Henderson, he says his criticisms are not directed at providers such as McEnaney but lie with government for creating a system almost entirely reliant on the private sector. Successive government housing policies have created a situation where many refugees with permission to live and work in the State are unable to find a place to live and must turn to local authorities for support, says Allen. As a result, some of these could end up in State-provided accommodation 'owned by the same landlord but operated by a different arm of the State'. His comments echo those of Dublin Region Housing Executive director Mary Hayes who told an Oireachtas Committee on housing last month that the homeless system had become the 'institutional discharge from one institution to another'. The main factor driving adult-only homelessness is people leaving direct provision, according to the latest DRHE figures. Andrew Geddes, director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute, says some European international protection systems, including the Irish model, have developed a 'permanent temporariness' in their approach to asylum. 'What you're effectively doing is warehousing people in the absence of a longer-term plan,' he says. Susan Fratzke, a senior policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, says an ability by government to 'flex up and flex down' in response to unpredictable changes in migration patterns, driven by war and climate change, is a key element of long-term asylum planning. She argues that while State-owned properties are a key element of a functioning asylum housing system, reliance on private contractors is also important. She says European governments need to plan for fluctuation so when numbers decrease, they can prepare for the next surge. 'This causes political tension because governments don't like to say we're planning for a rise in asylum claims, they prefer to talk about what they're doing to reduce numbers,' she says. 'But they could save money by being more realistic about these numbers. That requires political will.' A Department of Justice spokesman said the Government was working towards 'developing a more stable and sustainable accommodation system in the long term' and was moving away from reliance on the private sector through the purchase of 'more accommodation on State-owned lands'. This includes the recent purchase of Citywest Hotel and campus. The Department of Housing has made a similar commitment for homeless people – a spokesman said efforts are ongoing to reduce reliance on private emergency accommodation and secure supported housing operated by NGOs.
