Pre-tax profits at the main Irish unit of pharma giant, Bristol Myers Squibb last year declined by 47% to $2.09 billion (€1.79 billion).
New accounts filed by the north Dublin based Swords Laboratories UC show that the company's pre-tax profits declined in 2024 after revenues reduced by 21% from $15.52 billion to $12.27 billion.
The $12.27bn in revenues account for 25.4% of Bristol Myers Squibb global revenues of $43.8 billion in 2024.
The Irish unit in 2024 paid out $900m in dividends and in a post balance sheet event paid out a further $1.5 billion this year.
The firm paid out dividends of $5.4 billion in 2023.
The directors state that revenues decreased "due to a change in product mix, pricing, volume and the timing of the manufacture and distribution of new products".
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 from 1,120 to 1,209 and staff costs rose by 29.5% from $176m to $228.43m.
The company’s profits for 2024 take account of non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of $44.49m, stock write-offs of $111.97m and a foreign exchange loss of $6.4m.
The company recorded post tax profits of $1.82 billion after incurring a corporation tax charge of $268.76m. The accounts state that the company is subject to a Swiss corporation tax rate of 12.13%.
The accounts show that the Pillar Two international corporation tax reforms introduced at the start of 2024 delivered an additional $6.97m in corporation tax.
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 facility will employ 300 people when operational.
Documents lodged with the planning application stated that during the construction phase, 405 staff are to be employed, rising to 450 at peak.
A note attached to the accounts states that the company had capital commitments contracted for amounting to $119.3m at the end of December 2024.
The note states that the directors had authorised but had not contracted for capital commitments amounting to $311m.
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.
At the end of December 2024, Swords Laboratories UC’s shareholder funds totalled $2.26 billion that included accumulated profits of $1.25 billion.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
