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NAMA’S CHAIRMAN FRANK Daly says that their work “will become increasingly visible”, some of it through “the sight of cranes returning to Dublin’s Docklands”.
Daly made the remarks as the state’s bad bank published its 2013 annual report which showed a profit of €211 million for the year.
The profit represents a 8 per cent fall on that which was achieved last year. Much of the decline is due to cash reserves set aside to deal with the fall in value of unrealised property assets.
These costs, known as impairment charges, were €914 million last year, up from €518 million in 2012 with NAMA saying that the increase came following a “comprehensive review of impairment provisioning”.
Daly said following the report’s publication that last year saw a “remarkable turnaround” in how investors viewed Ireland, something he says means that it is likely that NAMA will achieve its goals “sooner than anyone would have expected”.
“We have a lot of work to do but this work will become increasingly visible – whether in the sight of cranes returning to Dublin’s Docklands or in renewed activity involving our assets throughout Ireland, ” he added.
NAMA’s fourth annual report shows that they generated €4.5 billion last year from the sale of assets and from other sources like rental income.
Since the bad bank became operational in 2009 it has produced €18.6 billion in cash, including €14.1 billion from asset disposals. €3.5 billion of this has been raised so far this year.
NAMA chief executive Brendan McDonagh said that the cash raised has been in part because of “the very strong demand for the assets in our portfolio”.
“We reported a profit for taxpayers for the third year in a row and successfully met our first major milestone of repaying €7.5 billion of NAMA’s debt in full and on time,” he said.
Reacting to the publication of the annual report, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that ”it’s quite clear now that NAMA is a very successful organisation” .
He added that a strategic review of NAMA will be finalised and laid before the houses of the oireachtas before the summer recess.
The strategic report of NAMA’s operations between 2010-2012 by the Comptroller and Auditor General is due to be discussed by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.
Among the findings in the report was one which questioned how the sale of twenty-six properties was undertaken. The state’s public spending watchdog said it found ‘no evidence of open marketing’ in the sale of these properties.
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Before NAMA go bananas on the vacant land around the Docklands can I offer a suggestion?
Dublin is in dire need of a new bus station, akin to Busarus but 4 times as big. As there are literally hundreds of coaches using the port tunnel every day, and as the Luas stops in the area (and could be extended by a couple of hundred metres easily), would someone please look into the obvious and build a bus station, or at least reserve some land for this?
That’s banamas
4 or even Fyffe times as big.
Ah yeah NAMA and their endless good news. Pity they don’t have a business brain between them- they went and sold Battersea Power Station in a rapidly rising London market for a bargain €400m in 2012. The manager of one of London’s biggest hedge funds called it the deal of the century- he wasn’t wrong- the first phase of the redevelopment sold out in record time with studio apartments flogging for £800,000 and 4 bed houses for £4m a piece. The first phase alone generated £600m in sales which is more than enough to cover the cost of purchase AND pay up the required £200m to build a 2 mile long extension of the Northern line Tube running underneath the development. They’ve still got another 1,000 homes to sell in the next phases as well as 1.5m sq feet of office space and a 200 unit shopping centre and theatre to build and sell yet. By the time all is finished in 2018 and the entire 39 acre site is developed it’s estimated they will have generated somewhere in the region of £5billion in sales. All from a site that NAMA offloaded for £400m
So the next time NAMA tell you they are getting value for money for the Irish taxpayer just think about how they had one of the most prime sites of land anywhere in Europe, with planning permission already granted, and then sold it for a song.
Government good. Repeat after me Government good. Repeat Everytime you question something and you will be grand
Its land they sold not properties or a new development its wasteland at the moment.. £400m for the size of land they sold is about right for London. Nama should have developed the sight rather than sell it.
If NAMA developed the site they could have made billions of pounds for the taxpayer. A bedsit on the site is up for sale for £1 million. NAMA received €15 million an acre.
Ah here thats complete horseshite! It’s a government orgainisation, not a business.. they cant speculate with tax payers money!
We have one in Cork now, it’s like a permanent Firework of optimism……
NAMA, crooked developer’s and speculator’s very own ATM.
Trades confidential, sensitive information to conflicted parties and cronies to the detriment of the taxpayer who was mugged to fund it.
142,000 home-loans in mortgage arrears.
40,000 buy to let mortgages (some on multiple properties) in mortgage arrears.
400,000 households in negative equity.
“I know, let’s get NAMA build some more shoddy, overvalued shoeboxes in the docks with €3 grand a year service charges to enrich a few greedy developers”
“That’ll solve all our problems”
Cue the 100%, interest only, 40 year, self cert, guarantor necessary mortgages.
Cue the zero stamp duty, first time buyers grant and the government backed “help to (die)buy” deposit scheme.
Only yesterday we heard the
“NAMA sold 26 properties with ‘no evidence of open marketing”
story here on the journal.
And now Daly’s out on the defense today.
Highrise Highrise Highrise. It’s what Dublin badly needs. Somehow I doubt they will build any.
Does anyone actually believe that NAMA is anything but a massive terribly run, non-transparent welfare provider for the well-connected?
They are clouded in secrecy – I’d be absolutely astounded if our “betters” are not making a killing on the back of the Irish taxpayer (again).
The golden circle of corruption continues apace.
Some good news for the Dublin Docklands.
I am from Dublin docks and full of empty promises. If you want me to elaborate just ask
Wonder how many irish will be working on them,
None
in that my definition of ‘irish’ is people you live in ireland.
all of them
To quote Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington; ” If a gentleman happens to be born in a stable, it does not follow that he should be called a horse.”
Plenty of Irish employers would rather higher foreign labour.I have never once heard an Irish accent from a worker in an NCT centre.It’s the same with the crews installing the water meters.
It’s a disgrace,especially in a time of mass unemployment.Extremely sort-sighted as well.
Why are they employing foreign labour? Could it be because they cost less? Could it be that the employer s nog competing with the social welfare, which is so high that it deters people from moving off it? Could it be tat they’re not drowning in debt? Hmmmm, I wonder why???
‘Could it be because they cost less? ‘ Most likely this.Almost impossible for native Irish to compete with Easten European labour on wages.
@ Damien Mc Padden – That quote was by Daniel O’Connell referring to The Duke of Wellington, not by the Duke himself.
I didn’t know that, thanks for the correction.
NAMA promises more overpriced unnecessary crap to be built
Dublin isn’t the problem, the rest of the country is.
I’m guessing report published here yesterday, linked at the end of the article, was deliberately timed to “go live” on a busy Monday after a weekend of very distracting elections. The doc itself states April 2014. Why the delay? Was there fact checking involved? Creative accounting more likely.
This crowd are as corrupt as any state body we’ve ever had, and all under the guise of leading Ireland out of trouble, or whatever their tag line is.
I hope they’re fully investigated, and not in the tribunal sense of the word.
Agreed ,this latest nama scandal,if investigated and not buried in an election frenzy will show how corrupt this entity really is! Transparency and Fine Gael is like mixing oil and water.
GREAT !! Where do I collect my share?
Oh I see, because they are from eastern Europe then this means they’re on eastern European wages, but yet they can STILL afford to live in Ireland, beside Irish people? The more you say the more you support the idea that wages are too high
Well big whoop Frank. As I drive in Dublin regularly I have not become aware of any shortage of office space. Quite the reverse. There is plenty of office space, and vacant apartments, so quit the vanity projects and money making wheezes for your buddies.
and they wonder why sinn fein are on the rise?
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