Profits down 72% at game company’s Irish arm

Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of the game firm behind the mega-selling FIFA 15 last year slumped by 72% to €67,290.

New figures just filed by Electronic Arts Ireland to the Companies Office show pre-tax profits decreased sharply from €243,628 to €67,290 as revenues dipped in the 12 months to the end of March 29th 2014.

According to figures just lodged, the firm’s revenues decreased from €22.09m to €21.54m.

The accounts show that after a corporate tax credit of €305,297, the firm’s post-tax profits stood at €372,587.

The sharp rise in numbers employed at the company from 180 to 328 in fiscal 2013 suffered a reversal last year going back down to 267.

Electronic Arts is one of the leading games firms in the world, and is based at Redwood in California.

In its first week of launch this year, FIFA 15 sold 5m units around the world.

Some of the games in the company’s portfolio include the Star Wars series, the Harry Potter series, the Battlefield series, and the Medal of Honour series along with the FIFA series.

The corporation’s global revenues in fiscal 2014 totalled $3.5bn (€2.9bn) that was boosted by the sale of FIFA 14, Titanfall and Battlefield 4 — three of the top five best-selling titles across all platforms in the Western world in 2014.

Staff at the Galway facility provide multi-lingual international customer support and services for its major game titles. The firm only opened its facility in Galway in September 2011, and in September 2012, Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced the creation of about 300 further jobs at the site.

The filings for fiscal 2013 confirm that the Irish firm didn’t receive any further employment grants from the IDA after receiving €3.63m in fiscal 2013 as well as €1.1m in 2012.

Staff costs last year rose from €11.42m to €12m with the fiscal 2013 figure net of the IDA employment grant.

The firm’s sales and customer support function absorbed all of the job losses last year, reducing from 310 to 249, with those employed in administration remaining static at 11 and IT at seven.

The profit last year takes account of hefty non-cash depreciation costs of €3.45m with operating leases for buildings coming to €2.12m and operating leases of ‘others’ coming to €966,504.

The accounts show that the firm’s shareholder funds last year increased from €7.85m to €20.38m that arose principally from a cash injection of €11.8m.

Directors’ emoluments during the period increased marginally from €102,419 to €104,642.