Irish shipping company Doyle Group reported about its decision to move its corporate base to the British Virgin Islands. After moving to BVI, it will not be required to publish accounts. For the purposes of redomiciliation, the company has created a new holding – Doyle Group Investments – registered in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. It has also given notice about the change of the status of its Irish firms to unlimited, waiving its obligation to file annual accounts in Ireland.
The Doyle Group is a major shareholder in ferries operator Irish Continental, and was one half of the One51 consortium that pursued a lengthy bid for the shipping group, which ultimately failed after a standoff between the consortium, owners of Irish Continental and property tycoon Liam Carroll.
According to the Group’s last published accounts, it had losses of over E300,000 for the full year after borrowing E100 million to buy shares in ICG, and to acquire three companies. The group’s turnover increased from E27.9 million to E30 million, but operating and net profit fell “due to increasing costs”. According to the group’s listed investments, its market value in 2007 made E48 million.