Software giant Adobe’s Irish unit sees profits fall to €363m

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish unit of US software giant Adobe last year decreased by 9% to $490.8m (€363m).

Figures show that Adobe Software Trading Company Ltd and subsidiaries recorded the drop in profit as revenues dipped by 2%, from $2.3bn to $2.27bn, in the 12 months to Nov 2 last.

The company — with an address at Citywest, Dublin — is the intermediate holding company for Adobe’s subsidiaries in Europe, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions.

The revenues generated by Adobe’s Irish unit represent 52% of the company’s worldwide revenues of $4.4bn.

The company paid taxes totalling $54m compared to $76m in 2011. Its after-tax profit was $436.7m, which resulted in accumulated profits of $2.65bn.

The holding company mainly deals in research and development activities, and the licensing, production, and distribution of computer software for markets outside of the US, Canada, and Mexico.

The company’s directors attributed the 2% revenue drop to “the current international economic environment and the group launching the Creative Cloud subscription service where revenue will be accounted for rateably rather than as exclusively by perpetual licences”.

The directors added that they are satisfied with the results.

The accounts show that Adobe’s operating profit last year decreased from $516m to $468m. The company’s cost of sales fell by 8.5%, from $398m to $364m, as administrative expenses increased from $255.4m to $301.7m.

Its distribution expenses decreased from $1.149bn to $1.135bn.

Adobe’s Irish unit saw employee numbers last year climb from 2,212 to 2,526. Staff costs increased marginally as well, from $432.4m to $434.9m. This includes share-based compensation costs of $32.5m.

The company incurred non-cash costs of depreciation and amortisation totalling $203.3m.

The Irish business has investments in 30 subsidiaries, in locations as diverse as Singapore, Australia, China, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, South Africa, and 10 EU states.

Adobe was established in 1982 and today Adobe Reader software is distributed in 34 languages worldwide, while one billion Flash technology devices have been shipped globally.