SHOP-fitting and specialist joinery firm Marcon has reported a dip in both sales and pre-tax profits in the year to last March.
But it said it had nonetheless been a successful year, in which it retained key customers and also gained a number of new clients across Britain and Ireland as it strengthened its position in the hospitality, leisure and museum/visitor attraction sectors.
Established in Antrim in 2004, Marcon Fit-Out saw its sales fall back from £29.7 million to £24.8 million over the period.
Pre-tax profits were down a third from £1.8m to £1.2m, and on a bottom-line basis, retained profit came in at just over £1 million.
Marcon, whose principal share-holders are Mark O'Connor and Mark McElroy, provides a full fit-out service to a range of blue chip and independent businesses, utilising its specialist joinery workshop to manufacture bespoke joinery.
Among its key contracts in recent trading years has been fitting out the Timberland store in Glasgow for VF Group, carrying out refurbishment works on the new Visit Derry visitor information centre at Waterloo Place, and fitting out the new Fry Model Railway Museum in Malahide.
Last summer Marcon was also awarded a contract at the new Hinch Distillery in County Down, where it is responsible for delivering the full fit-out which will include all specialist joinery items, such as feature bars, bespoke wall panelling, fixed furniture and floor and ceiling finishes.
A third of Marcon's sales last year came in Europe (mainly the Republic of Ireland), and in a strategic report accompanying the results, the directors admitted that Brexit "continues to be an issue".
But they said: "Group management continues to monitor developments closely and will be quick to react to the agreed future trading arrangements."
On Covid, Marcon closely from March 27 to June 1, then exited the furlough scheme on July 31"and continued to trade strongly", according to the directors.
