Collapsed insurance unit drags Quinn Group to £770m loss

Quinn Group suffered an operating loss of €888 million (£770m) in 2009, with the insurance division blamed for the bulk of the losses, it was revealed yesterday.

The insurance division of the group founded by Irish tycoon Sean Quinn and currently in administration lost €644m during the year. The division is being sold to US insurance giant Liberty Mutual and nationalised Anglo-Irish Bank in a deal that could force Irish consumers to cover as much as 85 per cent of losses.

Turnover at the wider Quinn Group in 2009 - the last year the business was fully under Quinn's control - amounted to €1.6 billion, down from €2.2bn the previous year when an operating profit of €239m was recorded.

Paul O'Brien, Quinn Group chief executive, branded the losses hugely disappointing but predicted "robust" earnings for 2010.

"Following the appointment of administrators to the QIL (Quinn Insurance] business in March 2010, the insurance business is no longer part of our continuing operations.

"I would like to wish the new owners of QIL every success in their efforts to restore the business to full strength and thereby protect the jobs in that business."

Quinn Group said its manufacturing operations remain profitable. Quinn and his family were stripped of their entire business empire last month. It was the final act in a series of punishing initiatives by Anglo and the Irish state to try to recoup about €3bn of losses the entrepreneur built up buying a secret 25 per cent share in the bank.

O'Brien said the group's future now lay in its manufacturing businesses, involving container glass, construction products, plastics and packaging and radiators across a number of jurisdictions.

At the height of his wealth, Forbes listed Quinn as the 164th richest person in the world and valued his fortune at close to $6bn (3.6bn).