Irish arm of Symantec returns to profit

THE Irish arm of Symantec last year returned to profit to record pre-tax profits of €72 million in spite of a decline in revenues.

According to accounts just filed by the Dublin-based Symantec Ltd to the Companies Office, the company recorded a pre-tax profit of €72.9m in the year to the end of April 2, 2010, following a pre-tax loss of €6.6m in 2009 representing a turnaround of €79.5m.

The figures show that the US-owned company’s revenues last year declined by 8% or €125m from €1.48 billion to €1.36bn.

The chief factor behind the increase in pre-tax profits was a foreign currency gain of €50m on intercompany transactions in 2010.

Also, in 2009, the crash in the Dublin commercial property market resulted in an impairment on a Symantec building of €14m and that year the company also recorded a €28m impairment on investments.

There was no property impairment charge last year and impairment on investments amounted to only €191,000.

The revenues generated at the Dublin unit accounted for 29.5% of the company’s global revenues of €4.6bn ($5.9bn) in 2010.

The company’s cost of sales in Ireland last year dropped by 10% from €769.5m to €691.3m. The company’s gross profit decreased by 7% or €47.2m to €670.5m.

The company’s accumulated profits at the end of the year totalled €81.7m with shareholder funds amounting to €90.2m.

The company paid taxes last year of €7.5m compared to €17.4m in 2009.

The company provides a broad range of content and network security software solutions and the filings also relate to Symantec subsidiaries located in China, Ukraine, Dublin, London and Shannon in Ireland.

The accounts include €4.8m in depreciation costs and €2.7m in amortisation of intangible assets.