Lufthansa’s Irish operations record €70m profit

The Lufthansa Technik group of companies in Ireland last year recorded pre-tax profits of $77m (€70.3m) following the closure of one of its units.

New group accounts, filed by the German-owned Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Holdings Ltd, show the group recorded the profit through a number of exceptional gains.

During the year, revenues at the group declined 17% from $299.35m to $247.84m and the drop in revenues was attributable to the group shutting down its profit-making engine overhaul segment with the loss of 411 jobs, when Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Ireland Ltd ceased trading in June last year.

The directors state that the unit recorded an operating profit last year of $9.2m while the group also made an exceptional gain of $30m on the closure of the engine overhaul unit’s defined benefit scheme.

The group also made an exceptional $16m gain arising from the closure of the defined benefit scheme from two other Lufthansa firms, Lufthansa Technik Shannon Ltd (formerly Shannon Aerospace Ltd) and Lufthansa Technik Shannon Ltd in 2014.

The pre-tax profit of $77.18m last year follows a pre-tax loss of $49.75m in 2013 that arose mainly from the $58m costs arising from the closure of Technik Airmotive Ireland firm.

The directors’ report states that “before exceptional items, the operating profit from continuing operations fell slightly by 4% on the previous year.