Pre-tax profits at the seller and distributor of Cadbury chocolate here last year more than doubled to €6.17m.
New accounts filed by Mondelez Ireland Ltd show that pre-tax profits rose by 135% as revenues surged by €52.9m or by 23% from €229.39m to €282.34m.
The pre-tax profits of €6.17m in 2023 follow pre-tax profits of €2.6m in 2022.
The company's operating profits increased by 17% from €2.3m to €2.7m and the more than doubling in pre-tax profits arose from the company receiving interest income of €3.469m compared to €298,000 in 2022.
During 2023, the company paid a dividend of €60m to parent firm, Kraft Foods Schweiz Holding Gmbh.
Cadbury has been making chocolate in Ireland since 1933 when the first Cadbury factory opened in Ossory Road, Dublin.
The directors state that Mondelez "continues to gain market share within Ireland".
The directors state that the market continues to be challenging in all the markets it operates in - confectionery, cheese, bakery and grocery.
Along with the Cadbury chocolate range, Mondelez's other brands here include Sour Patch Kids, Toblerone, TUC, Marabou, Mikado and Chips Ahoy.
The directors state that "inflationary pressures continue to have an impact on both the business and consumers".
The directors add: "Despite this, the business has continued to drive performance by launching new product innovation, building brand awareness through media campaigns, increasingly using new social media platforms and working with customers in building the categories we work in".
They state that "we gained market share in all categories and maintain the number one position in the market for confectionary".
They add that they "anticipate that the company’s operations will continue to expand its presence in the Irish market with its product portfolio and generate revenue from the exploitation of these products and related service needs".
Numbers employed reduced by one to 78 and wage costs increased from €8.28m to €8.67m. The profits also take account of non-cash amortisation costs of €1.4m.
The company recorded a post tax profit of €4.7m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.45m.
The profits offset by the €60m dividend payout last year reduced accumulated profits from €63.77m to €8.5m. Shareholder funds at the end of December last totalled €18.5m
The accounts state that all Research and Development is centralised in Munich, Germany and Bournville, England and "new product ideas are communicated to all operating units for their evaluation and introduction where appropriate".
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
