€12.5bn turnover at Google’s Irish arm

The Irish arm of internet services giant Google saw turnover rise 25% to €12.5 billion last year, according to newly filed accounts.

The company — which has its Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations based here — had generated revenues of €10bn in 2010. Its latest set of accounts also show an after-tax profit of €2.2m — up from €1.7m the preceding year — for 2011. A 28% increase in the company’s Irish-based workforce, during the year, to 2,087 maintained Google’s position as one of Ireland’s largest multinational employers.

As of the end of last month, the company’s Irish-based staff levels stand at more than 2,500 people, with the firm looking to continue to meet demand across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Google Ireland head John Herlihy called 2011 “a period of sustained growth in our Europe, Middle East, and African operations”.

“Turnover, revenues and employment all grew strongly, as we continue to reap the rewards of the growth in the digital economy. Strong growth in our core business of search advertising was fuelled by the continued shift of consumers and advertisers to the online marketplace.

“We also competed the acquisition of our three office buildings on Barrow Street, which provides us with the capacity we need for future growth.”

The purchase of the three buildings cost Google a combined €226.9m and such investment has continued, this year, with the official opening last week of a new Dublin-based data centre, which created an additional 30 jobs and cost another €75m to build.