Firm’s Irish profits jump

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of medical technology firm Becton Dickinson increased by 18% to €63.9m, last year, as revenues rose by 7% to nearly €1.15bn.

The Irish division of the New Jersey-headquartered medical technology giant contributes nearly 19% to group revenues.

Newly-filed accounts for Becton’s Irish division — Benex Ltd — state that its 2012 financial year, which ran up to the end of last September, was “another challenging year for the company,” but one which saw “some improvements” on 2011.

The directors’ commentary states that “weak economic conditions across the main European geographic markets and business segments served by the company continued through the year though not quite as severe as 2011”.

The increase in revenue, it added, was driven by new product ranges and favourable foreign exchange rates.

A breakdown of the company’s turnover showed that it recorded €490m in sales of medical products; €408m in sales from diagnostic products and €250m in sales from bioscience products.

The firm last year transferred its Irish-based operations from Shannon to Dun Laoghaire, which acts as Becton Dickinson’s “regional distribution and logistics platform for Europe”.

Between 2003 and 2011, the Irish operation has paid €678m in dividends to its US parent and €102.7m in corporation tax to the Irish exchequer. However, no dividends were paid last year while the firm’s tax bill for 2012 totalled €8m.

In its most recent financial year, Benex further reduced its employee numbers from 10 to three, with staff costs totalling €237,000 for the year.

The filings also show that 86% — or €956m — of the company’s sales took place in the EU.

Last year, the cost of sales increased by 7% from €908.4m to €961.3m and the company’s operating profit grew from €55.4m to €65m.