The directors of the luggage handling firm that apologised for its role in the number of bags that went missing at Dublin airport in July 2022 state that staffing issues have been addressed for the upcoming Summer season.
New accounts for Swissport Ireland Ltd show that it recorded pre-tax profits of €12.05m in 2022 as the aviation sector recovered from Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions.
The firm recorded the pre-tax profits as revenues rose by 61% from €32.56m to €52.46m.
The firm in 2022 received €1.75m in State Covid-19 wage supports which followed the company receiving €8.38m under that heading in 2021.
The €8.38m in Covid wage supports for 2021 appeared as 'other operating income' on the company's profit and loss accounts and skewed profits for the year resulting in a pre-tax profit of €14.41m.
The directors state that "the company believes that it is well positioned as the partner of choice for airlines as they prepare to turn the page from Covid-19 and ramp up operations in the future".
They state that "there was a significant challenge in 2022 to recruit and train enough staff to meet the surge in demand and labour although this has been addressed for the upcoming Summer season 2024".
They state that "latest industry intelligence is forecasting Summer 2024 to be ahead of 2022, and improved activity levels over the ongoing concern assessment to December 31, 2024".
On "events after the reporting date" a note states that "the recession forecast for the global economy, the cost of living crisis, and the increase in interest rates may reduce the demand for international air travel and passenger numbers going through Ireland airports but is unlikely to have a material impact on the company for 2024".
Numbers employed increased from 781 to 843 in 2022 as numbers employed in management remained static at 19 and the headcount in operations and supervision increased from 762 to 824.
Staff costs totalled €24.3m - made up of €23.3m in wages and salaries, €2.5m in social security costs and €220,000 in pension costs offset by the Covid-19 Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) of €1.75m.
The firm provides services to airlines operating from Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports and a breakdown of revenues shows that the company generated €34.7min ground handling; €16.8m in Cargo and €894,000 in "other".
The profit for 2022 takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.14m.
The profit also takes account of exceptional costs of €39,000 made up of redundancy costs of €27,000 which followed €153,000 under that heading in 2021 and settlement costs of €12,000.
The firm recorded post tax profits of €10.46m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.58m.
At the end of 2022, the firm's shareholder funds totalled €33.54m while its cash funds declined sharply from €18.1m to €1.89m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
