Revenues surged at the expanding Irish arm of furnishing giant IKEA last year to €216.7m - or an average of €4.16m a week - as pre-tax profits increased more than three fold to €12.88m.
The directors for IKEA Ireland Ltd state that the "healthy financial results" including a 13.5% increase in revenues rising from €190.89m to €216.7m.
They said the results outperformed the home furnishing market and gained market share representing "our financial stability and resilience amidst great change".
The increase in revenues coincided with pre-tax profits increasing by 242% from €3.76m to €12.88m in the 12 months to the end of August last
The firm paid out €3m in dividends during the year.
The directors stated that the firm's flagship store at Ballymun in Dublin is due to welcome its 40 millionth visitor this year.
They also said that the IKEA business here is on "an expansion journey in Ireland".
They stated that following the success of the opening of two 'Plan & Order Points' last year "we're committed to opening more around the country within the next couple of years".
The firm recently announced the opening of a Plan and Order Point for the Douglas Village Shopping Centre in Cork - the fourth Plan and Order outlet following Drogheda, Naas and the St Stephen’s Green Centre in Dublin.
The directors stated that the two Plan and Order outlets opened up during fiscal 2022 at St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and Naas "have been a huge success".
In their report, the directors confirmed another Plan and Order outlet for Portlaoise.
They said that IKEA Ireland "will open its first distribution centre in Ireland this year that will enable quicker fulfilment of IKEA products for customers in Ireland".
The directors stated that the business recorded the double digit revenues growth and healthy net operating profitability "despite the significant increase in costs we faced during the year".
They stated that "the impact of the war in Ukraine and the subsequent high inflationary pressure had a significant impact in the global supply chain and in local energy and other costs and as a result both our operating costs and costs of goods sold increased significantly compared to last year".
They also said that the firm continued to invest in its people by protecting the living wages "and this was made possible through our ambitious cost transformation programme that enabled us to improve our efficiency and decrease our costs whilst improving our business operations".
The business's operating profits increased by 199% from €4.47m to €13.38m, and after taking into account net interest payments of €501,248, the firm recorded the pre-tax profit of €12.88m.
The firm recorded post tax profits of €11.12m after paying corporation tax of €1.75m.
Numbers employed by IKEA Ireland last year increased from 699 to 766 as staff costs increased from €17.87m to €21.76m.
Directors' pay last year declined from €277,763 to €273,522.
The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.48m and operating lease charges of €976,606.
Shareholder funds totalled €37.64m that included accumulated profits of €32.64 million. Cash funds totalled €962,411.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
