Jul 30, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. Coillte, Ireland’s largest natural resources company, has announced profit after tax of Euro 19.9 million for 2011. This has been accomplished despite challenging trading conditions in its main markets and ongoing Eurozone instability. Coillte also announced the payment of a Euro 2 million interim dividend for 2012 to its shareholders. This is in addition to the Euro 10 million dividend paid to the Exchequer in 2011, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network. Profit after tax is down from Euro 32.1 million in 2010, however the 2011 results include exceptional items of Euro 9.1 million compared with Euro 1.4 million in 2010. Operating profit before exceptional items was Euro 41.5 million in 2011, down from Euro 46.1 million in 2010. David Gunning, CEO of Coillte, said: “These results demonstrate that we have successfully managed to reposition Coillte as a sustainable export-led business which continues to thrive. We have successfully targeted export markets and working closely with our sawmill customers, have transformed the timber sector in Ireland from a position five years ago where 10% of sawmill output was exported, to today where over 60% of Irish timber is exported, primarily to the UK, but also to other international markets,” he said. “This export focus is also reflected in our panel products business, which manufactures SmartPly Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and Medite Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). In 2011, some 90% of these sales were to export markets. We have seen strong growth in sales into continental Europe while the UK remains our largest market for these products,” he said. Coillte is Ireland’s leading forestry and forest products company and the largest land owner in the country with a core purpose to enrich lives locally, nationally and globally through innovative and sustainable management of natural resources.