Becton Dickinson pays €7m in corporate tax

The Irish arm of medical technology firm, Becton Dickinson, last year paid corporation tax of €6.7m on revenues of €1.19bn.

Newly-filed accounts for the US-owned Benex Ltd show pre-tax profits increased by 64% to €52.7m. This followed revenues increasing from €1.17bn to €1.19bn in the 12 months to the end of September 2014.

The firm — which has its Irish operations in Dun Laoghaire — acts as Becton Dickinson’s “regional distribution and logistics platform for Europe”.

The turnover recorded by the Irish subsidiary represents 15% of the corporation’s global revenues of $8.4bn (€7.65bn). According to the directors’ report section of the new accounts: “The company had a solid year with modest growth in key areas. Turnover grew by 2% over the prior year with the EMEA region performing strongly.

“The cost of sales increased, year-on-year, by 1% which meant that gross profit margin increased to 9% as against 8% in the prior year,” it added.

The directors state that interest charges were lower due to lower market rates on the company’s loans. “The provision for corporation tax increased by €3m due to the increase in net profit.”

The company made dividend payments of €53m in 2014, following payments of €60m in 2013, and €678m in 2012. 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.”