Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of food services firm Sodexo, which counts the Central Bank as one of its clients here, last year increased by 44% to €4.94m.
New accounts filed by the French-owned Sodexo Ireland show that the company increased profits as revenues rose by 9% from €141.4m to €154.7m in the 12 months to the end of August last.
Numbers employed by the business last year increased by 127 from 2,205 to 2,332 as staff costs increased by just under 10% from €74.22m to €81.52m.
The principal activities of Sodexo Ireland is the provision of a wide range of on-site support services to both private and public sector organisations in business, industry, education, pharma, and healthcare.
These include food services, infrastructure built, facilities and estate management and optimising the workplace experience.
The company recorded an after tax profit of €4.16m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €778,000.
The company paid out a dividend of €2.9m last November.
Asked to comment on the results, MD for Sodexo Ireland David Fox said "We have experienced a very positive few years in Ireland, driven by a combination of strong new business wins and key client retentions across both the public and private sectors".
"We continue to see good momentum this year, with organisations increasingly recognising the value of high-quality workplace food and facilities services to support employee experience and operational efficiency," he said.
"Our industry, like others, has challenges such as cost inflation and talent attraction, but our focus every day is on delivering great service to our clients and supporting our people to thrive," he added.
Sodexo counts the Central Bank as one of its clients and quarterly purchase orders published by the bank show that it paid out €2.76m (incl VAT) to Sodexo Ireland in 2024.
On future developments, the Sodexo directors state that "the stability of the current portfolio enhances the capacity of the company to further grow the business by acquiring new contracts during the next financial year".
The profit last year takes account of €853,000 in non-cash depreciation and non-cash amortisation costs of €126,000.
The firm had accumulated profits last year of €17.55m. Cash funds decreased from €15.09m to €11.83m. Shareholder funds totalled €14.04m.
Globally, Sodexo Group operates in 45 countries, employing over 423,000 people in the provision of a wide range of food services, soft services, and technical services.
Led by chairwoman and CEO Sophie Bellon, the group last year recorded revenues of €23.79 billion and operating profits of €1 billion.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
