Western Union’s Irish profits up 9%

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of payment services giant Western Union increased by 9% last year to $38.39m (€34m), figures show.

According to accounts just filed with the Companies Office, revenues at Western Union International Ltd fell by 3% from $2.18bn to $2.11bn in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The firm — fined €1.75m by the Central Bank last month for failure to comply with money-laundering and terrorist financing laws — paid a dividend of $78m in 2013 but none last year.

Western Union employs more than 100 people at its offices at Clonskeagh in Dublin. Consumers transfer money to more than 500,000 Western Union agent locations in more than 200 countries worldwide.

The accounts state that the administrative expenses grew by 13% primarily due to an increase in service fees payable to another group company, Western Union International Bank GmBH.

On the company’s future development, the directors state that “the company is aiming to grow its business by focusing on increasing the number of productive new locations, deregistering non-productive locations, whilst also investigating new initiatives to embrace its existing services”.

The figures show that the firm last year recorded a gross profit of $74.9m, while administrative expenses of $34.4m reduced the profits with the firm making a $3.1m gain on foreign exchange movements.

The accounts show that the firm recorded a post-tax profit of $33.6m after paying tax of €4.79m.