Cattle exporting company Purcell Brothers reduced pre-tax losses from £7.5 million (€9.5 million) to £1.2 million (€1.5 million) in the year ending August 2001.

The drop in losses came while the company was involved in a legal dispute with National Irish Bank (NIB) over an €8.1 million debt incurred through foreign currency speculation. The case was settled before it reached the High Court in February 2001.

Accounts recently filed at the Companies Office show that Purcell Brothers made a foreign currency gain of £879,304 in 2001, compared with a loss of £12.6 million in the previous year.

The accounts do not make detailed reference to the NIB wrangle, apart from noting that Purcell made "a settlement" with the bank.

Turnover dropped from £21.7 million to £3.9 million in 2001. Operating profit of £6.7 million was transformed into an operating loss of £2.4 million, while net debt rose from £9.4 million to £13.8 million. The numbers show that Purcell Brothers incurred legal expenses of just over £1 million in 2001.