Shannon leasing firm pays dividend of €1m per Irish employee to US parent

SHANNON-based aircraft leasing firm General Electric Capital Aviation Services Ltd (GECAS) paid its US parent a dividend of $266 million (€216m) last year — more than €1m for each Irish employee.

According to accounts just lodged with the Companies Registration Office, the Shannon firm’s dividend payout of $266m last November follows a dividend of $134m in 2008, resulting in an overall dividend payout of $400m (€326.4m) in two years.

The filings show that the company more than tripled its operating profit to $44m to the end of last December in spite of only marginally increasing the size of its business from $190m to $191m during the year.

A subsidiary of US giant General Electric, GECAS Ltd is one of a cluster of companies in the Shannon Free Zone engaged in aircraft leasing.

However, the company’s pre-tax profits last year dropped by 31% from $66.2m to $46.6m, mainly due to it recording a once- off profit of $42m on the sale of a fixed asset in 2008.

According to the directors, “both the level of business and the year-end financial position were satisfactory and the directors expect that the present level of activity will be sustained for the foreseeable future”.

The chief factor behind the company’s increase in operating profits from $14m to $44m was a reduction of $30m in operating expenses, dropping from $176.6m to $146.7m.

The filings show that the remuneration for the company’s 15 directors last year increased by 59.5% from $6.8m to $10.8m, receiving aggregate bonuses of $5.3m.

The directors’ share-based payments increased three -fold from $337,000 to $1.099m last year.