Pre-tax profits grow 217% at Pinewood Laboratories

Pre-tax profits at pharmaceutical firm Pinewood Laboratories last year increased more than threefold to €4.9m, new figures show.

Accounts recently filed by the Clonmel-based Pinewood Laboratories Ltd show that the firm increased its pre-tax profits by 217% from €1.57m to €4.98m in the 12 months to the end of Mar 31 2011.

The figures show that revenues at the firm declined by 15% from €71.3m to €60.3m. However, the prior period was for 15 months.

The filings show that the firm paid a dividend of €6.1m during the year and this followed a dividend payout of €9.5m the previous year.

According to the directors’ report “with a mixture of commercial activity growth and cost containment, Pinewood managed to deliver a healthy and sustainable level of profit in the year ended Mar 31 2011”.

It continues: “The over-riding corporate objective for the year ended Mar 31 2011 was the drive to expand product portfolios and also accelerate the expansion into new global markets in an effort to maximise future performance of the company. Pinewood remains the number one generic company in Ireland.”

The numbers employed by the firm increased from 314 to 329 during the year.

At the end of last March, the firm had €18.6m in accumulated profits with a total of €20m in shareholder funds, that included €4.8m in cash.

The firm’s staff costs last year amounted to €12m, compared to €15.3m the previous year.

The profit last year took account of €1.57m in non-cash depreciation costs and amortisation costs of €456,543.