Headcount rise at Swissport contributes to profits almost halving

The company operates across Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports and the directors state that 'trading is expected to strengthen further as the sector moves towards pre-pandemic normalcy'.

A 38% surge in wage costs at the Irish arm of aircraft handling firm, Swissport, last year contributed to pre-tax profits almost halving to €6.54m.

New accounts lodged by Swissport Ireland Ltd show that pre-tax profits declined by 45% to €6.54m in 2023 despite revenues increasing by €8.6m or 16.5% from €52.46m by €61.14m.

The wage bill soared as the challenges faced by Swissport Ireland in recruiting staff in 2022 led to lower staff costs that year and these challenges were overcome in 2023. During covid, the luggage handling firm apologised for its role in the number of bags that went missing at Dublin Airport in July 2022.

The accounts show that the company’s wage bill last year surged by €9.5m or 38.5% from €24.57m to €34.05m as headcount increased by 55 from 843 to 898.

The company beefed up its management and administration function in 2023 with numbers employed increasing from 19 to 63 while the numbers employed in operations increased from 824 to 835.

The directors state that the company achieved earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) last year of €7.39m compared to earnings of €13.12m in 2022.

The directors say that the 2023 EBITDA is not directly comparable to 2022 as the 2022 earnings before were positively impacted by covid-19 Government salary support and “the considerable challenges faced in recruiting and training sufficient staff to meet the surge in demand led to lower staffing costs in 2022”.

The company operates across Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports and the directors state that “trading is expected to strengthen further as the sector moves towards pre-pandemic normalcy”.

A breakdown of revenues show that the company last year generated €44m in ground handling, €16.27m in cargo and €838,000 in ‘other’. The company recorded an operating profit of €6.35m and net interest receivable of €190,000 increased profits to a pre-tax profit of €6.54m.

The profit for 2023 takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.03m. The company’s staff costs for 2023 totalled €37.85m that also included social security costs of €3.59m, €215,000 in pension costs along with the wage costs of €34m.

The firm recorded post-tax profits of €5.7m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €840,000. At the end of 2023, the firm’s shareholder funds totalled €39.25m while its cash funds increased from €1.89m to €2.6m.