Pre-tax profits at the main Irish unit of pharma giant Bristol Myers Squibb last year declined by 42% to $3.97 billion (€3.82 billion).
New accounts filed by the north Dublin-based Swords Laboratories UC show that the company's pre-tax profits declined in 2023 after revenues reduced by 10% from $17.28 billion to $15.52 billion (€14.9 billion).
The $15.52 billion revenues represent just over one third of Bristol Myers Squibb’s global revenues of $45 billion for 2023.
The directors for Swords Laboratories UC state that revenues declined by $917.52m due to a change in product mix, pricing, volume and timing of the manufacture and distribution of new products.
In a post balance sheet event, the company in 2024 paid out $900m in dividends.
This followed dividend payouts of $5.4 billion in 2023 and $4.82 billion in 2022.
The company has its Irish base at its Cruiserath manufacturing plant at Mulhuddart in north Dublin.
Numbers employed by Swords Laboratories UC last year increased by 196 from 924 to 1,120.
Staff costs increased from $141.6m to $176.07m which includes salaries and wages of $140.84m and share based compensation costs of $6.8m and other employee costs of $3.2m.
The company's profits for 2023 take account of non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of $52.09m, stock write-offs of $113.58m and a foreign exchange loss of $10.49m.
The company recorded post tax profits of $3.47 billion after incurring a corporation tax charge of $502.58m. The accounts state that the company is subject to a Swiss corporation tax rate of 12.13%.
The directors state that the company is currently investing $400m in a new sterile product facility at its 131.5 acre BMS Cruiserath site 10.4km north west of Dublin city centre.
The new faculty will employ 300 people when operational and the directors state that the completion of the construction of the new facility is expected in 2026.
Documents lodged with the planning application stated that during the construction phase, 405 staff are to be employed, rising to 450 at peak.
The BMS planning report stated that the selection of Ireland as the preferred company for the investment "was largely based on the need for additional capacity in the region".
The report stated that "the location of facilities is selected in order to provide the most secure, extensive, reliable and best performing biopharmaceutical manufacturing infrastructure available".
Already as its Mulhuddart base, BMS operates its Cruiserath Biologics Campus, a $1 billion multi-product Cell Culture Biologics manufacturing facility.
The pharma giant has been in operation here since 1964, employing people across a range of activities and global business units including commercial operations and its European Treasury Centre.
At the end of December 2023, Swords Laboratories UC’s shareholder funds totalled $1.3 billion that included accumulated profits of $297.47m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
