Irish arm of Procter & Gamble records pre-tax losses of €4.5m
Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Ltd & closed its Carlow plant last August (2010) with the loss of 167 jobs.
The closure of the plant was the chief factor in revenues at the company & declining by 41% from €91.7m to €53.3m in the 12 months to the end of June 2010.
The directors’ report, in the company’s accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office in recent days, states that the Carlow plant was shut down following a study that concluded it was no longer viable with its current level of activity.
The accounts show that the company paid out €8.5m in redundancy costs last year and this followed €18.6m in redundancy costs in 2009.
The move to transfer its Carlow business to sister plant at Newbridge secured 103 jobs — in total, 468 are employed at the Newbridge plant.
The company’s Newbridge plant is the group’s European, Middle East and Africa source of choice for manual oral care.
The directors confirm that an additional 82 temporary staff have been taken on at the Newbridge plant, where operations are running seven days a week with productivity up on last year (2010).
The directors also confirm that the Newbridge plant successfully bid last year (2010) for P&G’s heritage toothbrushes from a sister plant in Germany.
The chief factor behind the Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Ltd& pre-tax loss last year was €7.5m written off in an investment in a connected company.
The pre-tax loss last year of €4.5m followed a pre-tax profit of €2.2m in 2009.
The company had budgeted €28.6m for the closure of its Carlow manufacturing plant in 2009, but the company recorded a €4m credit in the restructuring last year following a detailed review of the €28.6m provision.
The chief factor behind the drop in revenues was the wind-down of the Carlow operation where in 2009 revenues generated there totalled €39m compared to €4m last year.
The company’s accumulated losses last year stood at €43.5m, with shareholder funds standing at €165.5m following a capital contribution of €158.2m and a share premium of €46.7m.
Last year, staff costs totalled €27m compared to €26.7m in 2009.
The figures show that 464 are employed in production, 18 in administration, 13 in management and three in distribution.
The directors state: “The management of the company continue to bid for additional business and find opportunities for ongoing cost reduction to increase competitiveness and to maintain the 468 existing jobs in Newbridge.”
The directors state that the Carlow site is currently for sale. They state: “However, due to the downturn in the local Irish economy, there is a risk that we will not secure the asking price of the lands and buildings or that a sale will take some time to secure
They go on: “In addition, a recent environmental study carried out on the Carlow facility indicated remediation work was required on the underground soil, which could have a significant cost impact to the company.”
The company has provided for site costs of €1m in 2010 and this followed a provision of €400,000 in 2009.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
