Brian O’Sullivan, founder and owner of Zeus Group, has been chosen as The Irish Times Businessperson of the Month for June, an award run in association with Bank of Ireland.
The Cork-based packaging group announced in June that it had completed bolt-on acquisitions in England and Spain that will add €20 million to its annual revenues, which will be in excess of €500 million this year.
The Irish company closed the acquisition of Empire Tapes, a Rotherham-based manufacturer of specialist adhesive tapes, and Rio Tinto Plásticos, a Spanish distributor and manufacturer of sustainable packaging products.
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The Zeus founder said Spain was a market “that we will look to double up in over the next two to three years”.
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Founded in 1997, Zeus is one of the largest privately-owned packaging companies in Europe, with a footprint across 40 countries and employing 1,500 staff directly. The acquisitions will help the company hit revenues of about €550 million for 2025, with significant growth forecast for next year.
“What we see in our pipeline between organic [growth] and acquisitions, we’d be looking to reach to between €650 million and €700 million of revenue,” O’Sullivan told The Irish Times, adding that it could breach the €1 billion mark within the next three to five years, subject to market conditions.
“We can grow by bolt-on acquisitions, and we can grow to that figure of €1 billion; that’s within our grasp.”
O’Sullivan was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021. At that time, the company employed about 670 staff and had annual revenues of €300 million
