NCT suffers €20.5m in revenue due to Covid-19

The company that runs National Vehicle Testing (NCT) last year posted a pre-tax loss of 1.33 million euros.

That’s according to calculations by two Applus entities showing that Covid-19 generated €20.65 million in revenue for the business in 2020.

Last year, Applus performed 1 million full NCT tests compared to 1.39 million full tests in 2019.

The combined revenue of Applus, Applus Car Testing Service Ltd (ACTS) and Applus Inspection Services Ireland Ltd (AISI) was €60.19 million for 2020 compared to revenue of €80.84 million in 2019 – a decrease of 25.5 per cent.

The 10-year contract for NCT, operated by Spain’s Applus, was concluded in June 2020 and the company successfully re-tendered for a new 10-year contract.

Emphasizing the impact of Covid-19 on business, ACTS reported revenue of just €22 million for the first half of 2020, and contract-acquiring company Applus, Applus Inspection Services Ireland Ltd (AISI) recorded revenue of €38.17 million from June 27 to end of the year.

The pre-tax loss in ACTS of €2.8 million last year was offset by a pre-tax gain of €1.47 million by AISI resulting in a pre-tax loss of €1.33 million for 12 months across the two companies.

The figures hired by AISI last year totaled 803, and the two Applus companies combined received €5.3 million in Covid-19 government wage support scheme payments last year.

Regarding the company’s performance for the first half of the year, ACTS directors stated that results for the first half of 2021 were in line with expectations due to impacting events, in particular the issue of the failure of the extensive lift network exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This included the government’s decision to postpone a permanent test for four months.

The company did not pay any dividends last year, but the contract was very profitable for the Spanish parent company.

The company began paying dividends from its NCT contract here in 2013 and by the end of 2019 had paid out a total of €35.5 million in dividends.

At a labor court hearing earlier this year while challenging a payment claim filed by SIPTU, Applus stated that it had incurred “significant financial losses in 2020” and was not in a financial position to waive a wage claim due to the 2020 losses “and a poor performance.” very much in 2021. »