The former Irish Glass Bottle Factory, Ringsend

ARDAGH, the glass bottle-maker backed by financier Paul Coulson, returned to profitability in the second quarter of the year.


The company, which was taken private by Coulson, posted a net profit of €32.4m in the three months to end June, according to a presentation it gave to its bond investors last week which has been seen by the Sunday Tribune. It made a net loss of about €600,000 in the same period a year earlier. The company lost €52m in 2009 as a whole.


Sales in the second quarter were 3% higher at €323.7m, according to the document. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of goodwill (EBITDA) rose by 43% to €77.8m.


The swing into the black in the quarter allowed the company to reduce its debts from €961.3m to €958m. A large portion of Ardagh's borrowings are from Anglo Irish Bank. According to the second quarter report, Ardagh Glass had about €78m in cash and nearly €290m in undrawn credit facilities.


The debt mountain was built up after a series of takeovers that have turned the company into one of the three biggest glass manufacturers in Europe. Ardagh no longer has any production in Ireland after selling the Irish Glass Bottle factory in Ringsend, Dublin, in 2006 to developer Bernard McNamara and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Dublin-based Ardagh has about 6,500 employees across Europe and says it produces 13 billion glass containers each year.


Coulson owns about 40% of the company through his Luxembourg-based investment company Yeoman International. He took Ardagh Glass private in 2003 after a takeover tussle with Sean Quinn.


Ardagh has been linked with a bid for Quinn's glass manufacturing business in the UK if Quinn Group's various divisions are put up for sale, a move that would make the company the largest glass producer in Europe.