Argos Ireland back in the black with €6m profit

The Irish arm of catalogue retailer Argos returned to profit last year, despite revenues declining 3.4% to €219m.

The Irish arm of catalogue retailer Argos returned to profit last year, despite revenues declining 3.4% to €219m.

Newly-filed accounts for Argos Distributors Ireland Ltd show a pre-tax profit for €6.37m for the 54 weeks to March 11 of this year.

This followed the company recording a pre-tax loss of €153m for the 52 weeks to the end of February 2016.

That loss arose from a goodwill impairment following UK supermarket Sainsbury’s £1.4m takeover of Argos late last year.

The latest year saw the Irish division record a post-tax profit of €5.4m following payment of corporate tax of €969,000.

Numbers employed by Argos in Ireland last year totalled 1,024.

The company operates 40 stores here including in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Longford, Athlone, Arklow, Tralee, Carlow, Dundalk, Killarney, Letterkenny, Navan, Waterford, Wexford, Portlaoise, Tullamore, Castlebar, Drogheda and Ashbourne.

Operating profit, before exceptional items, amounted to €8m.

That was reflective of a decrease in net operating expenses and an increase in gross margin on the reduced sales.

Argos Ireland posted a gross profit of €60.44m, with its cost of sales totalling €159.35m.

The company’s cashpile last year reduced from €18.9m to €12.67m.

As of the end of its last financial year, Argos Ireland had accumulated profits of €13.7m.