A CORK-BASED archaeological firm that grew its turnover by more than 20% last year said it is well placed to beat the recession and grow its business.
Headland Archaeology (Ireland) had a dip in pre-tax profits to just under €500,000 in the year to the end of May 2008 from €700,000 in the previous year as it gears up for growth.
Turnover in the year jumped from €6.8 million to €8.3m.
The bulk of the company’s turnover comes from recording and excavating archaeology in advance of infrastructure projects.
Headland has worked on the N25 Waterford bypass, the N9/N10 Carlow bypass and most recently work in advance of the construction of the Metro in Dublin.
The company said its "healthy profits" leave it in a favourable position to weather the current economic storm and its reserves mean that it does not need to make panic decisions on staffing.
Headland Archaeology’s managing director in Ireland Colm Moloney said that, over the past 10 years, the company has "prospered in spite of severe skills shortages in an industry where lifestyle and academic interest are often felt to conflict with a business-like approach to archaeology and the clients who commission us".
"We have had no alternative but to train our own staff and develop their skills internally, and this has worked well for us, and we cannot afford to let our skilled staff go in these testing times," he said.
The company’s parent firm, which is one of the largest commercial archaeology companies in Europe, had a record-breaking year with a turnover of €17m.
With its origins in Scotland, the firm started off in a former lemonade factory tucked behind Easter Road Football Stadium in Edinburgh in 1996.
It has grown significantly since then and has offices in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, March 24, 2009
