Quinn Group made a pre-tax profit of €632m last year

Sean Quinn, the owner and founder of the Quinn Group, made a total profit through his company and through other family interests of €632m in 2006. He told a business conference in Cavan on Wednesday, 7 March, that Quinn Direct, the group's insurance business, made a €332m pre-tax profit last year, up 39per cent on the 2005 figure and that the Quinn Group as a whole, which involves plastics, glass and building materials, made a €432m pre-tax profit last year.

In addition, his family businesses, which are not part of the Quinn Group, principally property interests in Europe, Russia and India, made a €200m pre-tax profit in 2006.

Mr Quinn told delegates at the 'Innovation and Competitiveness' conference, that his group has grown by over 30 per cent every year since 1973. He said however that this profit rise will decline over the next five years, but his other interests, including his international property would continue to grow at a rapid rate. 

The Quinn Group recently purchased BUPA Ireland and was involved in a controversy over risk equalisation. He has indicated he might move into the energy business. He already owns a small wind farm on the Cavan/Fermanagh border. He met Noel Dempsey, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, and regulator Tom Reeves recently to explore the possibility of developing power station and further wind projects.

Sean Quinn does not own a mobile phone and avoids many of the other paraphernalia of many modern business people. "I like to sit back and enjoy what I'm doing. You need to slow down to get a good view on life," he told the Cavan conference.