KYLEMORE Foods, the restaurant and catering company part-owned by DCC, swung into a loss last year.

Kylemore made a pre-tax loss of €312,656 in the year to end March 2009, newly filed accounts at the Companies Registration Office show, compared with a profit of €9.2m in the previous year. The year earlier results were boosted by a one-off gain. The company said that sales fell to €33.1m from €36.6m.

Kylemore said it was affected by the slump in the economy but also by higher rents. "The company is looking to renegotiate these property costs in the current challenging times," it said.

One bright spot for the company was its contract catering division, which had a number of contract wins, it said.

Kylemore Foods was founded 90 years ago by the Hogan family, which still owns half the business. The remainder is owned by DCC.

The company holds the Irish franchise rights for the Quiznos sandwich bar chain. Kylemore paid out a dividend of €11m to its shareholders during the year, up from €1m in 2008.

Despite the difficult trading environment, the firm increased its staff numbers to 593 from 551.