Medical firm’s Irish unit pays €4m tax

The Irish arm of medical technology firm Becton Dickinson — which employs only three people here — last year paid corporation tax of €4.2m on revenues of €1.17bn.

According to accounts filed by the US-owned Benex Ltd, its pre-tax profits declined by 50% to €32m in spite of an increase in revenues, from €1.14bn to €1.17bn, in the 12 months to September 30 2013.

Its Irish operation in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, acts as Becton Dickinson’s “regional distribution and logistics platform for Europe”.

The turnover recorded by the Irish subsidiary represents 20% of the corporation’s global revenues of $8bn (€5.9bn) last year.

According to the directors’ report, “the financial year 2013 was another challenging year for the company, however, there were some improvements against 2012”.

The directors said sales increased by 2%, mainly due to some product lines no longer being sold. “However, there was a 5% increase in cost of sales due mainly to adverse foreign exchange rates when purchasing from product suppliers. As a result gross profit percentage has decreased by 2% in 2013.”

Last year, Becton Dickinson paid a dividend of €60m to its parent. Since 2003, it has paid dividends of €678m to its parent. In the same period, the company has paid €114.9m in corporation tax.

The dividend payout last year reduced the firm’s accumulated profits to €28.8m.

A note attached to the accounts states: “At this point, the company is subject to the standard rate of corporation tax at 12.5%. This situation is not expected to change during the year ending September 30, 2014.”

The three employees at the Irish unit are engaged in administration and finance, with staff costs totalling €268,000 for the year.

The firm was previously based in Shannon and incorporated in Ireland in 1979.

The vast bulk of the firm’s goods are sold in EU countries, which accounted for €1bn in sales last year, with €75.4m sold to non-EU countries and €55.97m to other European countries.