Carr earns €800,000 in Government deals
Driven to success: Terry Prone with her Mercedes convertible in Stillorgan
Saturday March 01 2008
Carr Communications, the troubled media training company which earlier this month suffered the loss of some of its key people including the high-profile media pundit Terry Prone, takes in almost €800,000 a year in contracts from Government departments and agencies, according to documents recently filed with the Companies Office.
The documents also reveal that Touchstone, the healthcare company owned by Carr's current 70pc shareholder Fergus Hoban, secured a loan of €1,018,000 to buy out the 52pc stake in the company owned by Dermot McCrum, the former managing director who left the company at the same time as Ms Prone.
Both Mr McCrum and Ms Prone worked at the company, established by former RTE presented Bunny Carr, for over 25 years.
Others who left the company in recent weeks include Ms Prone's husband, Tom Savage, regarded as one of the key forces behind the Carr's development, and their son Anton Savage.
The reasons for the split in Ireland's best-known and most commercially-successful media training company are shrouded in secrecy. Ms Prone has answered media inquiries by saying she needs "time to reflect".
Mr McCrum said he was leaving to "stay true to my beliefs".
In a statement issued through a spokesman yesterday Mr Hoban said: "Carr Communications has a policy of maintaining confidentiality regarding any personnel associated with the company."
Sources say the split relates at least in part to worsening relations between Ms Prone and Mr Hoban.
Mr Hoban became a shareholder in Carr in 2004 when he backed a management buyout by Mr McCrum and Donal Cronin, Carr's head of training and current 30pc shareholder, in a deal reported to value the company at €8m at that time. It is understood Mr Hoban paid €2m for Mr McCrum's stake three weeks ago in a deal which now values the firm at €4m.
As €1m of that was a loan secured on Carr the company was required to detail its most lurative contracts. These are all media training contracts. The Road Safety Authority pays Carr €300,000 a year for media training while the Environmental Protection Agency forks out €70,000 a year for similar services. The largest contract, which runs between October 2007 and July 2008, is with the Department of the Environment and is valued at €500,000.
Royal Bank of Scotland hands over €120,000 a year for Carr to teach its executives how to deal with the media while the private hospital company Bons Secours pays €62,000 a year.
Ms Prone and Mr Savage have begun hiring for the Communications Clinic, an existing company owned by the husband and wife team which previously drew fee income from Carr but will now compete with it.
Mr McCrum has established a consultancy with his wife Dolores Comerford.
- Tom McEnaney and Laura Noonan
