Oracle pays €58m in tax

The main Irish subsidiary of US software and hardware giant Oracle last year paid corporation tax of €58m as revenues topped €7.85bn.

Newly-filed figures, lodged by Oracle EMEA Ltd, show the firm recorded a pre-tax profit of €127.4m — a drop of 22% on the €164.4m recorded in 2013.

The Dublin-based firm paid a dividend of €200m to its parent last year, after paying no dividends in 2013 and 2012. The firm’s principal activities in Ireland comprise of the manufacture and sale of computer hardware and software products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), together with the associated translation, finance and marketing services.

The revenues generated by the Irish arm last year represent 22% of Oracle’s global revenues of €35.6bn ($38.3bn) in the year to the end of last May.

According to the directors’ report: “The trading results of the company have remained strong, with an 8% growth in turnover. The company earned a profit in the current year and our expectation is that the company will continue to trade successfully and remain profitable in future periods.”

It added that Oracle EMEA invested €38.4m in R&D last year, in order to “enhance existing and develop new technologies”. The filings show that the firm’s tax liability for the year was €58m compared to a tax bill of €11.9m in 2013. The bill was made up of Irish corporation tax of €35.17m in addition to its foreign tax liability of €77.2m. Timing differences and adjustments reduced the bill to €58m.

The firm’s shareholder funds at the end of May 2014 stood at €2.169bn, with its cash pile increasing from €253.2m to €382.68m.