The Irish arm of fast food giant McDonald's recorded its most profitable ever year here last year as pre-tax profits surged by 157% to €43.16m.
In a record year for McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland Ltd, new accounts show that pre-tax profits jumped by €26.37m from €16.78m to €43.16m, as the business exited operating its own fast food outlets here.
This followed the last owner-operated McDonald's closing permanently at Dublin Airport on 28 February 2022.
The move to exit the owner-operator model here came 45 years after McDonalds opened its first fast food restaurant in Ireland on Dublin’s Grafton Street.
Today, the McDonald’s business comprises 94 franchised stores.
The firm recorded a sharp increase in pre-tax profits as revenues rose by 20% from €67.13m to €80.56m.
The 2022 revenues easily outstripped the pre-Covid 19 revenues of €69m in 2019.
The pre-tax profit of €43.16m equates to an average weekly pre-tax profit of €830,038.
The bumper profits of recent years allowed the company to pay out combined dividends of €45m across 2022 and 2021.
The firm paid out a dividend of €25m on 30 November 2022, and this followed a dividend payout of €20m in 2021.
The company is eyeing expanding the business here with the directors stating that "the company anticipates further expansion of its operations in the Republic of Ireland".
The company’s operating profits increased by 118%, from €19.63m to €42.75m, while the firm’s gross profit increased by 55%, from €43.67m to €67.93m.
The directors state that "proportionately larger increases in gross margin and operating profit are reflective of costs not increasing to the same degree as turnover including the fact that some costs are fixed".
Employee numbers decreased by 135 from 163 to 28, due to the switch in the last operated store to a franchise agreement in February 2022.
Staff costs reduced from €3.93m to €1.84m.
The firm recorded a post tax profit of €35m after paying corporation tax of €8.15m.
The operating profit takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €4.7m.
The company’s lease costs increased from €15.32m to €16.48m.
The firm also benefited from an onerous lease credit of €3.75m.
At the end of December 2022, the firm had shareholder funds of €108.58m that included accumulated profits of €28.89m.
The company’s cash funds increased sharply from €35.2m to €53.56m.
McDonald's sources its beef from 12,000 Irish farmers.
- reporting by Gordon Deegan
