Over €1m profits rise for Novartis’ Irish arm

PROFITS at the Irish arm of Swiss drugs group Novartis rose by just over €1 million last year.

Accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office (CRO) show that Novartis Ringaskiddy, which manufactures bulk pharmaceuticals, made pre-tax profits of €25.9m in year to end December 2004, up from €24.8m the previous year.

Sales at the company rose by less than €2m to €117.5m. As the company did not pay out a dividend to its parent, retained profits at the end of 2004 increased to €164m.