Apple's Cork-based subsidiary records daily profits of €80m in 2020

The company last year paid dividends of $81.5bn to its parent company in the US

Numbers employed at AOI and subsidiaries last year totalled 51,255. Some 6,000 of those employees are based in Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Pre-tax profits at an Irish-based Apple business last year decreased by 19pc cent to $33.8bn (€28bn).

Apple Operations International Ltd (AOI)'s daily pre-tax profits of $92.6m (€76.9m) for the 12 months to the end of September 26th last are revealed in new accounts filed with the Companies Office.

The drop in pre-tax profit came in spite of revenues increasing by 5pc from $140.99bn to $148.16bn for the 12 month period.

A chief factor in the drop in pre-tax profit was the company’s Research & Development spend more than doubling from $7.59bn to $15.48bn.

AOI is registered at the company’s Holyhill campus in Cork and covers most of Apple’s non-US subsidiaries.

The company acts as a holding company for a number of Apple subsidiaries. It manufactures and develops everything from the company’s iPhone and iPad products to Mac computers.

The company last year paid dividends of $81.5bn that was down sharply on the 2019 dividend payout of $196.7bn to Apple Inc.

The accounts state that the dividends are fully subject to US tax and in a post balance sheet event, the company has paid a further dividend of $17.9bn.

AOI incurred a tax charge of $6.14bn last year across a number of countries where Apple operates and that the figure excludes US-based taxes.

The accounts don’t disclose corporate tax paid in Ireland but state that Ireland's 12.5pc corporate tax charge would have resulted in corporation taxes of $4.22bn.

The accounts refer to the Apple and Irish Government's successful appeals against the European Commission decision five years ago that the iPhone maker owed Revenue €13.1bn in back taxes, plus interest of €1.2bn.

Last July Europe's second-highest court ruled that the Government didn’t give Apple any State Aid and the accounts refer to the European Commission appealing that decision to the European Court of Justice.

A note attached to the accounts states that Apple may request approval from the Irish Minister for Finance “to reduce the recovery amount for certain taxes paid to other countries”.

The note states that as of September 26th, the adjusted recovery amount was €12.9bn, excluding interest”.

AOI last year recorded post-tax profits of $27.65bn.

On the impact of Covid-19, the directors state that following the initial outbreak of the virus, the group experienced disruptions to its manufacturing and supply chain provided by outsourcing partners that resulted in temporary iPhone supply shortages that affected sales worldwide.

They state that the full extent of the pandemic on the group's operational and financial performance is currently uncertain. However, in Apple's latest quarterly results, the group globally reported record sales of $90bn for the first three months of this year.

Numbers employed at AOI and subsidiaries last year totalled 51,255 - a 3,918 increase on the 47,337 employed in 2019. Some 6,000 of those employees are based in Ireland.

Staff costs for the 51,255 last year totalled $4.84bn and that included share-based compensation of $941m.

AOI’s selling, general and administrative expenses last year totalled $9.1bn.

AOI’s shareholder funds at the end of September last amounted to $26.36bn with its cash funds totalling €8.6bn.

This is only the third time in several years that AOI has filed accounts with the Irish Companies Registration Office.

Under previous rules, AOI wasn’t required to file accounts and the business’s accounts were beyond public scrutiny, but an EU directive that came into force for the company’s fiscal year 2018 has resulted in AOI filing accounts for last year and 2018.