Irish state forestry company Coillte estimates that the total cash impact of Storm \u00c9owyn will exceed \u20ac80 million, with salvage operations on windblown forests expected to continue until mid-2027.<\/p>\n
The storm, which struck Ireland in January 2025, caused unprecedented damage across Coillte's forest estate and continues to weigh on the group's financial and operational performance.<\/p>\n
According to Coillte, the estimated cost is driven by a combination of lower sawlog prices resulting from increased timber supply, reduced volumes of higher-value sawlogs recovered from damaged sites, and significantly higher harvesting, haulage and clean-up costs.<\/p>\n
The company recorded an exceptional charge of \u20ac51.3 million related to the storm in its 2025 profit and loss account. As a result, Coillte reported an operating loss of \u20ac33.5 million, compared with an operating profit of \u20ac18.7 million in 2024.<\/p>\n
Excluding storm-related costs, EBITDA increased slightly to \u20ac66.5 million from \u20ac62 million a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The scale of the damage was substantial. Approximately 14,500 hectares of forest suffered windthrow damage, equivalent to more than twice Coillte's annual harvest area.<\/p>\n
Due to the financial impact of Storm \u00c9owyn, no ordinary dividend will be paid to the Irish state for 2025. However, the company maintained a solid financial position, ending the year with net cash of \u20ac26 million and access to \u20ac150 million in revolving credit facilities, none of which had been drawn by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
Coillte replanted almost 6,000 hectares during 2025, planting around 15 million trees. The company also continued to advance its renewable energy ambitions, providing \u20ac18 million in shareholder loans to its joint venture, FuturEnergy Ireland, to support the development of its wind energy portfolio.<\/p>\n
In addition, Coillte expanded the proportion of its land managed primarily for nature and biodiversity from 20% to 30%, bringing the total area managed with a nature-first focus to 134,000 hectares.<\/p>\n
Chairperson Vivienne Jupp<\/span><\/span> said Storm \u00c9owyn had defined 2025 for the organisation and would continue to affect the business over the coming years.<\/p>\n \"To put the scale in context, the equivalent of more than twice Coillte's annual harvest area suffered windblow damage. When you consider that the total cash impact on the business is estimated at over \u20ac80 million, in a business delivering EBITDA of \u20ac66.5 million, the financial challenge becomes clear,\" she said.<\/p>\n Chief executive Imelda Hurley<\/span><\/span> said the company delivered a resilient underlying performance despite one of the most difficult years in its history.<\/p>\n She noted that cost-saving measures implemented throughout 2025 helped support earnings, while ongoing geopolitical tensions and weak end-market demand continued to create uncertainty across Coillte's core markets.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Irish state forestry company Coillte estimates that the total cash impact of Storm \u00c9owyn will exceed \u20ac80 million, with salvage operations on windblown forests expected to continue until mid-2027.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n