Companies Registration Office

Week of 2026-W09

Irish Corporate Affairs Weekly | Business Post

Irish Corporate Affairs Weekly

CRO Company & Business Formations, Financial Filings & Director Networks — Week of 26 Feb – 4 Mar 2026

Source: CRO | Period: 2026-02-26 to 2026-03-04

Weekly | 26 Feb – 4 Mar 2026

2,919 Financial Filings, 451 New Business Names — and a Wexford Motor Group Quietly Running €76m

No new limited companies were registered at the CRO this week — a reminder that the registry's real pulse is in its financial filings, not its formations. With 2,919 financial statements received in seven days, the week's story is in the numbers already filed: a family-controlled Wexford motor group turning over €76.3m across five subsidiaries; a Sligo healthcare packaging plant quietly remitting €4m to its Australian parent; and a NYSE-listed IT services firm writing down €5m in goodwill on its Irish operation. Meanwhile, 451 new business names — from Drumlins Analytics in Cavan to Pearl Capital in Blackrock — sketch the week's entrepreneurial mood: food, construction, and a quiet surge in tech sole traders.

New Companies Registered

451

New Business Names

2,919

Financial Reports Filed

High Court Judgments

593

Property Transactions

By the Numbers

Metric	Value	Signal
Financial reports filed (week)	2,919	Active filing week
Consolidated group accounts filed	10	Group structures visible
New business names registered	451	Steady formation pace
New limited companies registered	0	Quiet week for incorporations
Largest revenue disclosed (E. Murphy Motors)	€76.3m	+4.4% YoY
Largest goodwill impairment (Endava Ireland)	€4.99m	Stress signal
Largest dividend to overseas parent (Amcor Sligo)	€4m	Post-balance sheet event
Property transactions (week, national)	593	Avg €325,863

  Business Post AI Pick: The Week's Hidden Story
  The absence of new company registrations this week is itself a data point. The CRO's formation pipeline has been running at 400–600 new companies per week in recent months; a zero-registration week suggests a data lag or a quiet period in the registry's processing cycle. The real corporate activity this week is in the financial filings — 2,919 unique reports, including 10 consolidated group accounts that reveal the full architecture of Irish family business groups. The Murphy motor empire in Wexford, the McGrath construction group in Meath, and the Amcor packaging plant in Sligo all disclosed their full financials this week. That's where the stories are.

Pattern of the Week: Food & Hospitality Surge in Business Names Of the 451 business names registered this week, at least 18 are in food service, catering, or bakery — from Dough Mamma in Listowel to Bigbites Curry House in Roscommon. This is not a seasonal blip: food and hospitality have consistently accounted for 15–20% of weekly business name registrations throughout 2025–26. Ireland's food economy is being built one sole trader at a time, with the CRO as its quiet registry.

The week's 2,919 financial filings span every corner of the Irish economy — from a Wexford motor dealer group with five subsidiaries and €76m in turnover to a three-person steelworks in its second year of trading. The 10 consolidated group accounts filed this week are the most revealing: they expose the full architecture of Irish family business groups, including inter-company loans, dividend flows to overseas parents, and the personal guarantees that underpin stocking finance. What follows is the week's most notable financial disclosures, ranked by revenue.

Financial Performance: Top Filings This Week

Company	Revenue	Profit/(Loss) BT	Employees	Signal
E. Murphy Motors Ltd FY2025	€76.3m	€1.67m	81	+4.4% YoY
Randalswood Construction Ltd FY2024	€54.9m	€1.05m	40	Profit -87% YoY
Amcor Flexibles Sligo Ltd FY2025	€33.5m	€6.37m	101	+5.9% YoY
STS Aviation Services Ireland Ltd FY2023	€27.8m	n/d	177	+378% from 2022
Endava (Ireland) Ltd FY2025	€20.1m	(€4.32m)	5	-16.5% + goodwill impairment
Alchemy Manufacturing Ltd FY2024	€22.5m	n/d	79	-7.6% YoY
Orbis MES Ltd FY2024	€6.19m	n/d	24	+52.6% YoY
Lir Steelworks Ltd FY2025	€1.25m	€198k	3	+47% YoY

Stress Signal: Endava Ireland — NYSE Parent, Net Liabilities in Dublin Endava (Ireland) Limited — the Irish subsidiary of NYSE-listed Endava plc (ticker: DAVA) — filed accounts showing revenue down 16.5% to €20.1m, a €4.99m goodwill impairment on its 2021 acquisition of Comtrade Digital Services, and net liabilities of €442k at 30 June 2025. With just five employees in Ireland and €8.4m owed to group undertakings, the Irish entity is effectively a billing conduit for the wider group. The parent's revolving credit facility (£169m undrawn) provides the going concern backstop — but the impairment signals that the original acquisition thesis has not delivered. Watch for further restructuring in the 2026 accounts.

Standout: Amcor Sligo — €33.5m Revenue, €7m Cash, and a €4m Dividend to Australia Amcor Flexibles Sligo Limited is one of the most profitable manufacturing operations in the west of Ireland that most people have never heard of. Revenue up 5.9% to €33.5m, profit before tax €6.37m, and cash at bank €7.05m at year-end. The post-balance sheet note reveals that on 29 July 2025, the directors approved and paid an interim dividend of €4m to its UK holding company, which flows up to Amcor Plc in the Channel Islands. A €4m dividend on €6.37m pre-tax profit — a 63% payout ratio — is a reminder that Ireland's role in global manufacturing is often as a high-value production node rather than a wealth-accumulating hub.

Sector Breakdown: Business Name Registrations by NACE Code

The 451 business names registered this week span 60+ NACE sectors (Nomenclature of Economic Activities — the EU's standard industry classification). The top sectors by registration volume reveal the shape of Ireland's micro-economy:

Restaurants & Food Service (5610)

Construction & Building (4120)

Hairdressing & Beauty (9602)

Computer Consultancy (6202)

Bakery & Pastry (1071)

Mgmt Consultancy (7022)

Electrical Installation (4321)

Landscape & Gardening (8130)

Computer Programming (6201)

Other Manufacturing (3290)

Explore All Companies →

View All 2,919 Financial Reports →

The CRO's financial filings are a window into the Irish economy that no other source provides — but the window only opens fully when you cross-reference what companies disclose with what the courts, the property market, and the press are saying. This week, three themes emerge from the data that no single source could reveal alone: the quiet resilience of Irish family motor groups, the structural squeeze on property developers despite rising sales, and the growing tension between global tech platforms and Irish regulators.

Thematic Connections

Construction Watch: Randalswood's Revenue Surge Masks a Profit Collapse Randalswood Construction Limited, the Meath-based property developer controlled by PJ McGrath, Mary McGrath and Thomas McGrath, filed accounts this week showing property sales of €54.9m in 2024 — up from €51.2m in 2023. But profit before tax collapsed from €8m to just €1.05m, an 87% fall. The culprit: trade creditors ballooned from €6m to €26.8m, and amounts owed to group undertakings jumped from zero to €7.5m. The company is moving more product but retaining far less of it. Consistent with The Business Post's reporting at Mipim in March 2026, where Housing Minister James Browne was courting international investors to help deliver 50,000–60,000 homes per year, the Randalswood data tells the other side of that story: Irish developers are scaling up sales volumes but facing rising costs that are compressing margins to near-zero. Watch for the 2025 accounts — if trade creditors remain elevated, the company's cash position will be the real test.

Motor Sector: The Murphy Empire Files Its Consolidated Accounts Five subsidiaries of E. Murphy Motors Limited filed their consolidated accounts simultaneously this week — Trinity Motors Mazda, Trinity JLR, Trinity Motors Wicklow, Tony Roche Car Sales, and BRNO Investments — all filing on the same day. The group, controlled by Edward Murphy, turned over €76.3m in the year to March 2025, up 4.4% year-on-year, with 81 employees (up from 63). Cash generated from operations was €2.88m, and the group paid its first dividend in years: €45,713. The Bank of Ireland holds fixed and floating debentures over all five entities, and directors Barry Murphy and Oliver Murphy have signed a joint personal guarantee of €1.1m for stocking loans. This is a family business running at scale, with the full weight of its balance sheet visible only through the consolidated accounts. No court proceedings were found for any Murphy entity this period, suggesting stable legal standing.

Tech Regulation: X Platform Loses Stay Application Against Irish Media Regulator The week's most significant legal development for Irish corporate affairs was not in the CRO but in the High Court. X Internet Unlimited Company v Comisiún na Meán [2026] IEHC 127, delivered by Ferriter J. on 4 March 2026, saw X (Twitter) fail in its application to stay decisions by Ireland's media regulator under the EU Digital Services Act. The court found a strong public interest in the DSA regulatory scheme and refused to dilute the weight given to orderly implementation of the regulator's decisions. For Irish-registered tech subsidiaries — and there are hundreds of them — this judgment signals that Comisiún na Meán is a regulator with teeth, and that the Irish courts will not lightly grant stays against its decisions. Watch for the substantive judicial review hearing, which the court indicated should be expedited.

Aviation Rebound: STS Aviation Services Files 2023 Accounts Three Years Late STS Aviation Services Ireland Limited, a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) company, filed its 2023 accounts this week — three years after the financial year end. The numbers tell a dramatic post-pandemic recovery story: revenue surged from €5.8m in 2022 to €27.8m in 2023, a 378% increase, while headcount grew from 137 to 177. The late filing is itself a signal: companies that are growing rapidly often struggle to keep pace with compliance obligations. The 2024 and 2025 accounts are presumably still outstanding. Watch for those filings — if the growth trajectory continued, STS Aviation may be one of the more significant Irish MRO operations.

The Radar: Three Signals Worth Watching

Tech Sole Traders Clustering in Sandyford and Temple Bar A pattern is emerging in this week's business name registrations: tech-oriented sole traders are clustering in specific Dublin postcodes. Tanex Solutions (computer programming, Sandyford D18), Mana Cores (computer consultancy, Temple Bar D02), and CERTFILE (IT services, Straffan, Kildare) all registered this week. These are not startups — they are experienced professionals incorporating as sole traders, likely for tax efficiency or client contract purposes. The Sandyford Business Park eircode D18 FP98 appears on multiple registrations. Watch for whether this clustering intensifies as the year progresses: it may signal a wave of senior tech professionals leaving employment to go independent.

Regional Business Names Signal Rural Economic Activity Not all this week's business names are Dublin-centric. Drumlins Analytics (computer consultancy, Cootehill, Cavan), Sliabh Liag Peninsula (management consultancy, Kilcar, Donegal), and North West Charters Donegal (tour operator, Kincasslagh) all registered this week. The geographic spread of business name registrations — from Achill Island to Cootehill — suggests that Ireland's micro-economy is genuinely national, not just a Dublin phenomenon. Watch for whether the rural tech and consultancy names convert to limited companies within 12–18 months, which would indicate they are scaling beyond sole trader status.

NEW BARN GROUP: One Name, Two Sectors, One Address NEW BARN GROUP registered two business names on 1 March 2026 from the same address at 29 Westland Square, Pearse Street, Dublin 2: one for construction of residential and non-residential buildings, and one for business and management consultancy. This dual-sector registration from a single corporate address is a pattern worth watching — it may indicate a property development company building out a consultancy arm, or a consultancy moving into development. The Westland Square address is a known hub for construction and property firms. Watch for a limited company registration under the same name in the coming weeks.

Two companies from this week's filings stand out for deep investigation: E. Murphy Motors Limited, the Wexford family motor group whose consolidated accounts reveal the full architecture of a €76m business built on Bank of Ireland credit and personal guarantees; and Amcor Flexibles Sligo Limited, the quietly profitable healthcare packaging plant whose €4m post-balance sheet dividend to its Australian parent tells a story about Ireland's role in global manufacturing. Both are companies you would not find without the CRO.

E. Murphy Motors Limited — The Wexford Motor Empire at €76m

E. Murphy Motors Limited, registered at Trinity Street, Wexford, is the holding company for a five-subsidiary motor dealer group spanning Wexford and Wicklow. The group sells and services Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, and other marques through Trinity JLR, Trinity Motors Mazda, Trinity Motors Wicklow, Tony Roche Car Sales, and BRNO Investments. The ultimate controlling party is Edward Murphy, who has been a director since 1993.

Metric	FY2025	FY2024	Change
Group Revenue	€76.3m	€73.1m	+4.4%
Profit Before Tax	€1.67m	€2.83m	−41%
Cash from Operations	€2.88m	€1.55m	+86%
Total Employees	81	63	+29%
Motor Vehicle Stock	€15.5m	€16.7m	-7.4%
Bank Loans (total)	€5.17m	€7.25m	−29%
Dividend Paid	€45,713	€0	First in years

Reading Between the Lines: The Guarantee Behind the Growth Revenue up 4.4% to €76.3m, headcount up 29% from 63 to 81 — on the surface, a group scaling confidently. But profit before tax fell 41% from €2.83m to €1.67m, squeezed by higher staff costs (€4.19m vs €3.82m) and interest charges. The most revealing disclosure: directors Barry Murphy and Oliver Murphy have signed a joint and several personal guarantee of €1.1m for stocking loan finance from Bank of Ireland. Stocking loans — the credit lines that fund a dealer's vehicle inventory — are the lifeblood of motor retail. At year-end, the group had €2.38m in stocking loans outstanding, down from €4.02m in 2024. The first dividend in years (€45,713) signals confidence, but the personal guarantees are a reminder of how exposed the Murphy family remains to the credit cycle.

The question for the 2026 accounts: with stocking loans falling and headcount rising, can the group maintain its cash generation if the Irish new car market softens? The 2025 accounts will be the real test.

Amcor Flexibles Sligo Limited — The €33.5m Plant That Sends Its Profits to Australia

Amcor Flexibles Sligo Limited, based in Sligo, manufactures healthcare packaging — the specialist films, pouches, and laminates used in pharmaceutical and medical device packaging. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amcor Flexibles UK Holding Limited, which in turn is owned by Amcor Plc, a company registered in the Channel Islands and listed on the ASX and NYSE. The Sligo plant employs 101 people and is one of the larger manufacturing employers in Connacht.

Metric	FY2025	FY2024	Change
Revenue (healthcare packaging)	€33.5m	€31.7m	+5.9%
Profit Before Tax	€6.37m	€5.23m	+21.9%
Cash at Bank	€7.05m	€3.22m	+119%
Total Employees	101	102	−1
Staff Costs	€5.26m	€4.57m	+15.1%
Post-BS Dividend Paid	€4.0m	€4.0m	Consistent
Corporation Tax	€771k	€642k	+20%

Why It Matters: A €4m Dividend and What It Tells Us About Ireland's Manufacturing Model The post-balance sheet note in Amcor Flexibles Sligo's FY2025 accounts is a single sentence: on 29 July 2025, the directors approved and paid an interim dividend of €4,000,000 to Amcor Flexibles UK Holding Limited. This is the second consecutive year of a €4m dividend — the same amount was paid in FY2024. On €6.37m pre-tax profit, that's a 63% payout ratio. The Sligo plant generates real value — 101 jobs, €33.5m in revenue, €7m in cash — but the economic surplus flows to the Channel Islands. Director Fabian Zurbuchen, a Swiss national appointed in October 2025, is the latest in a line of group-appointed directors. The local director is John McSharry, who has served since 2022.

The question for the 2026 accounts: with cash at bank doubling to €7.05m and capital commitments at zero, will Amcor invest in the Sligo plant or continue to extract dividends? The answer will determine whether this is a growing Irish operation or a mature cash cow being managed for extraction.

Key People This Period

Name	Role	Notable Activity	Connections
Edward Murphy	Director / Controlling Party	Ultimate controlling party of €76.3m motor group; first dividend paid in years	E. Murphy Motors, Trinity JLR, Trinity Mazda
Barry Murphy	Director	Signed €1.1m personal guarantee with Oliver Murphy for stocking loans	E. Murphy Motors
PJ McGrath	Director / Beneficial Owner	Property developer: €54.9m sales in 2024 but profit collapsed 87% to €1.05m	Randalswood Construction
Mary McGrath	Director & Secretary	Co-director and secretary of Randalswood; ultimate beneficial owner alongside PJ & Thomas McGrath	Randalswood Construction
John McSharry	Director & Secretary	Local director of Amcor Sligo; oversaw €4m dividend to overseas parent	Amcor Flexibles Sligo
Fabian Zurbuchen	Director	Swiss national appointed Oct 2025; group appointment from Amcor Plc	Amcor Flexibles Sligo
Alan McDonnell	Director	Appointed Oct 2024 alongside Kevin Codd — new management layer added to property developer	Randalswood Construction

One to Watch: Orbis MES Limited

Orbis MES Limited

Company No. 504841 | Dublin | NACE 6201 — Computer Programming | FY2024 Accounts: SR8046551

Metric	FY2024	FY2023
Revenue	€6.19m	€4.06m
Revenue Growth	+52.6%	—
Employees	24	22
Products Revenue	€2.46m	—
Services Revenue	€3.73m	—

Orbis MES Limited is a Dublin-based software company specialising in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) — the software layer that sits between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and the factory floor, tracking production in real time. Its clients are typically pharmaceutical, medical device, and food manufacturers. Revenue grew 52.6% to €6.19m in FY2024, with a near-even split between product licences (€2.46m) and services (€3.73m). The company has 24 employees, up from 22.

Why it matters: MES software is a high-value niche in Irish manufacturing. Ireland's pharmaceutical and medical device sectors — among the largest in Europe — require sophisticated production tracking for regulatory compliance. A 52.6% revenue jump in a single year, with a balanced product/services mix, suggests Orbis is winning new enterprise contracts rather than just growing maintenance revenue. At €6.19m, it is still small — but the growth trajectory puts it on a path to €10m+ within two years if sustained.

The number that matters: €258,000 revenue per employee — a productivity ratio that compares favourably with much larger Irish software firms. Watch for the FY2025 accounts, which will confirm whether the growth rate is sustainable or a one-year spike from a large contract win.

The Irish Courts

Eight High Court judgments were delivered in the week of 26 February to 4 March 2026. The most significant for Irish corporate affairs was the refusal of a stay application by X (Twitter) against Comisiún na Meán, Ireland's media regulator, under the EU Digital Services Act — a ruling with direct implications for every tech company operating through an Irish subsidiary. A landlord-tenant dispute in Donnybrook and an environmental challenge against Irish Water rounded out the week's business-relevant docket.

Citation	Parties	Subject	Why It Matters
[2026] IEHC 127	X Internet Unlimited Company v Comisiún na Meán	Digital Services Act — stay application refused	Irish courts will not dilute DSA regulatory enforcement; signals risk for tech subsidiaries
[2026] IEHC 124	Verbenagrove Limited v Evans and Anor	Landlord-tenant — unlawful re-entry, new tenancy upheld	Landlords cannot physically re-enter during statutory occupation without court order
[2026] IEHC 106	Friends of the Irish Environment v Uisce Éireann	Environmental challenge against Irish Water	Ongoing regulatory exposure for infrastructure companies
[2026] IEHC 99	Walsh v Juniper Orthodontics Limited	Medical/dental company litigation	Healthcare company litigation risk; watch for sector-wide implications

DSA Enforcement: A Regulator With Teeth The X Internet judgment is the most consequential corporate law development of the week. Ferriter J. found that the public interest in the orderly implementation of the EU Digital Services Act outweighed X's claimed prejudice from the regulator's decisions. For the hundreds of tech companies — from Meta to TikTok to smaller SaaS firms — that use Ireland as their EU base, this judgment is a clear signal: Comisiún na Meán will enforce the DSA, and the Irish courts will back it. The substantive judicial review is expected to be expedited. Watch for the outcome — it will set the tone for DSA enforcement across the EU.

View All Judgments →

Property Markets & Plans

The national property market recorded 593 transactions in the week of 26 February to 4 March 2026, with an average price of €325,863 and a median of €295,154. Dublin dominated the high-value end: nine transactions above €1m were recorded in the capital, led by a Rathmines property at €2.73m (VAT-exclusive, suggesting a commercial or development transaction) and a Sandymount Road house at €2.58m. The national median of €295,154 remains well above the long-run affordability threshold for first-time buyers on average Irish wages.

Address	Price	Date	Note
O House, 10 Palmerston Villas, Rathmines, D06	€2.73m	3 Mar 2026	VAT-exclusive — likely commercial/development
25 Sandymount Rd, Dublin 4	€2.58m	3 Mar 2026	Residential, D04
3 Sarah Curran Avenue, Rathfarnham, D16	€1.25m	2 Mar 2026	Residential, D16
71 Hampton Park, Booterstown, A94	€1.21m	4 Mar 2026	Residential, South Dublin
Rosamustica, 3A Knocksinna Park, Dublin 18	€1.30m	2 Mar 2026	Residential, D18

View All Transactions →

The Week Ahead

The week of 26 February to 4 March 2026 was defined not by new company formations — there were none — but by the financial disclosures of companies already in operation. The single most important takeaway: Ireland's corporate economy is a tale of two models. The first is the family-owned Irish business — the Murphy motor group in Wexford, the McGrath construction group in Meath — generating real revenue, employing real people, and carrying real personal risk on their balance sheets. The second is the multinational subsidiary — Amcor in Sligo, Endava in Dublin — generating value in Ireland but remitting the surplus to Channel Islands holding companies or NYSE-listed parents. Both models are legitimate. But only the CRO makes them visible.

The X Internet judgment against Comisiún na Meán is the week's most forward-looking development: it signals that Ireland's regulatory environment for tech companies is tightening, and that the Irish courts will not be a soft landing for companies seeking to delay DSA compliance. For the hundreds of tech subsidiaries registered at the CRO, this is a material development.

  The Bottom Line
  Ireland's corporate registry is a mirror of its economy: family businesses scaling on personal guarantees, multinationals extracting dividends to offshore parents, and a micro-economy of sole traders building the food, tech, and construction sectors one business name at a time. The CRO doesn't make headlines — but it tells the whole story.

What to Watch: (1) Randalswood Construction's 2025 accounts — will trade creditors normalise or signal a deeper squeeze? (2) The substantive X Internet judicial review — the first major DSA enforcement test in the Irish courts. (3) STS Aviation Services' 2024 and 2025 accounts — if the 378% revenue growth continued, this is one of Ireland's fastest-growing aviation MRO companies. (4) Orbis MES FY2025 accounts — will the 52.6% revenue growth rate be sustained or was it a one-year spike?