A Co Tyrone auction group is fast establishing itself as among the most profitable businesses in the north, new accounts show.
Gardrum Holdings, the parent firm of Dromore-based Euro Auctions recorded a 14 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £20.1 million last year. It followed a 45 per cent surge in company turnover to £145m in the year to December 31 2018.
Euroauctions, which specialises in machinery sales, now has operations in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai and the US.
According to the report filed with Companies House, Gardrum Holdings Ltd’s workforce grew by 28% to 1,630 last year, with 362 new staff added.
Controlled by Dromore man Derek Keys, the holding company comprises a series of global business interests from the original plant sale business in Dromore which still bears his father’s name William, to Yoder and Frey, the US auction firm the group acquired in 2016.
Gardrum Holdings is also the parent group for a series of property and farm interests from Ireland to Bulgaria.
Mr Keys founded Euroauctions in the late 90s with his brothers, introducing American-style one-day auction sales to Ireland.
The company held its first one-day auction in Dromore in March 1998, selling 371 lots. By 2002 the firm had two sites in England, with the continental Europe expansion occurring in 2006, when Eurouauctions opened in Dormagen, Germany. Expansions into Valencia, Brisbane, USA and Dubai followed.
According to the latest company report filed by Gardrum Holdings, the number of global auctions held by the company fell from 55 in 2017 to 49 in 2018.
However, despite holding fewer auction, the total sales that went under the hammer rose by 50% to £172m.
The report states: “This represents the gross hammer total and therefore does not reflect turnover of the group.”
