Green Belt Ltd, the forestry management company based in Virginia, Co Cavan, has reported pre-tax losses of more than €720,000 for its financial year ended August 2019. The company made a small pre-tax profit of just under €87,000 the previous year.

The hefty losses reported for 2019 is actually the fourth time in the last five years that Green Belt Ltd has reported a pre-tax loss for its financial year. Since 2015, the Virginia-based forestry company has racked up combined losses of almost €1.5m.

Recently filed accounts show Green Belt had a turnover of €10.7m for its 2019 financial year, which was up 12% on the previous year.

The accounts show that Green Belt generated almost half its income from managing forests on behalf of landowners, with the other half of its income derived from sales of Irish timber.

Employing over 30 people, Green Belt is Ireland’s largest privately-owned forestry company. It manages over 400,000 acres of forestry land in Ireland for more than 10,000 landowners who are a mix of private clients, investors and pension funds.