€12m loss at Rathdowney outlet in two years
THE company behind the Rathdowney Shopping Outlet lost another €5.4m in the year to March 2009, bringing the venture's losses to more than €12m over two years.
The alarming figures are revealed in accounts just filed for AWG Outlets (Rathdowney), which admitted it had to "revise" letting terms for some of its retail tenants, leading to lower rental income.
The latest losses also include a €4.6m revaluation hit, as the firm wiped 32pc off the book value of its shopping centre asset in keeping "with general market sentiment".
The 2009 losses left Rathdowney with a shareholders' deficit of €10.3m at the end of the financial year, but the firm got a boost from a 12-month extension to its banking facilities that was granted in November 2009.
"This will allow time to consider the value-adding initiatives available to the directors prior to engaging with further discussions with the bank in the coming months, with a view to securing the extension of funding," the directors said.
They added that the 2009 extension was secured after one of Rathdowney's shareholders agreed to provide funding to meet interest repayments for the extra year "as may be necessary".
Commenting on the 2009 trading, which saw Rathdowney's income fall from n798,000 to n643,000, the directors noted the difficult trading environment had made "attracting and retaining quality tenants very challenging".
The centre's manager Lisa Corcoran was unavailable for comment but upbeat about the future performance of the centre when she spoke to the Leinster Express a number of months back.
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