A new report from the Central Statistics Office shows that profits made by companies rose by 30% in the final three months of last year to just under €80 billion.
Companies in the industrial sector, which includes pharmaceuticals, accounted for over half of this at €43.2 billion. Profits in the Information and Communications sector was next at €19.7 billion.
The CSO report shows that corporate profits have been on a continuous upward trajectory.
Profits in the fourth quarter of 2022 were 52.7% higher than the fourth quarter of 2019 - pre-pandemic.
Profits at foreign-owned corporations have been rising faster than domestic companies. Foreign-owned companies made profits of €261 billion in 2022. This marked a 98% increase over 2017 -almost double.
Profits at domestic companies rose by 61% over the same period.
Today's report also includes an estimate of the cost of capital investment by companies which reduces the profit figure for the fourth quarter last year to €50.2 billion.
