The main Irish arm of biopharma giant, Sanofi last year paid out dividends of €800m.
New accounts show that Sanofi based subsidiary Genzyme Ireland Ltd paid out the dividend as pre-tax profits increased by 6.5% from €308.29m to €328.5m.
This followed revenues declining by 8% in 2024 from €1.78bn to €1.65bn.
Sanofi purchased Genzyme's global business in 2011 and since then has invested over €700m in the Waterford facility.
Genzyme is one of the largest private employers in the south east where employee numbers further increased in 2024 from 905 to 959.
In October of last year, Waterford native, Cian O’Brien was appointed Site Head at Sanofi Waterford and replaced Kilkenny native, Amy Brennan who departed her Waterford post to a new role as Head of Rare Disease, Oncology & Immunology (RDOI) Cluster for Sanofi.
Mr O’Brien joined the Waterford team as a project engineer in 2003 and was a member of the site leadership team since 2019.
The directors state that Genzyme's turnover decreased "due to the product mix and transfer prices across the group".
The workforce at the Waterford site is made up of 345 in manufacturing, 318 in quality, research and development, 142 in administration, 84 in engineering and 70 in materials.
Underlining the contribution of the Waterford site to the local economy, staff costs last year increased from €90.1m to €99.9m that included share based payments of €2.12m.
Pay to directors last year increased from €475,000 to €551,000 made up of emoluments and €515,000 and pension contributions of €36,000.
The company recorded post tax profits of €281.39m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €47.12m.
The corporation tax charge included a €7.8m 'domestic top up tax charge'. A note states that "the company is subject to domestic top-up tax under Pillar Two tax legislation. The top-up tax relates to
he company's operations in Ireland".
Established in Waterford in 2001, Sanofi Waterford is a primary distribution centre for many of the firm's major treatments.
Its products and services are focused on rare inherited disorders, kidney disease, orthopaedics, cancer, transplant and immune disease, and diagnostic testing and the plant delivers 4.3bn healthcare solutions to people every year.
The directors state that they expect the general level of activity to continue into the future.
The firm also provides debt financing services to other Sanofi group entities.
The revenues were generated by €1.44bn in pharma sales and interest received from group undertakings amounting to €212.63m.
Revenues generated by the firm within the EU totalled €1.19bn with sales in the US totalling €369.86m while sales in 'Other’ amounted to €87.95m.
The firm’s spend in R&D last year decreased from €13m to €12.8m while combined non-cash depreciation and impairment costs totalled €33.34m. The profit also takes account of exchange different losses of €2.45m.
The shareholder funds of €8.2bn includes accumulated profits of €594.19m.
Underlining the firm’s planned continued expansion, the directors had authorised but not contracted for capital commitments of €95.04m at the end of 2024 and contracted for capital commitments of €17.18m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
