Dunnes Stores George’s Street subsidiary made €2m profit last year

Accounts for a Dunnes Stores subsidiary in the Republic show it made a profit of just under €2 million on turnover of €105.6 million in the year to the end of January 2015.

Turnover declined by 1 per cent in the year while its profit was 9.3 per cent lower. At the end of January 2015, the company had €55.3 million in cash.

Documents filed with the Companies Office for Dunnes Stores (George’s Street) give a rare window into the company’s finances here. As an unlimited entity in the Republic, Dunnes is not required to publish statutory accounts for its extensive grocery and textiles activities. Financial details are usually only available for its operations outside the Republic.

It is not clear from the accounts precisely what activity Dunnes Stores (George’s Street) undertakes on behalf of the group, which is controlled by Margaret Heffernan and her brother Frank Dunne.

An analysis of turnover by class of business is not given because “in the opinion of the directors, this would be prejudicial to the group’s interests”.

Corporation tax

However, the retailer’s headquarters is at 46-50 George’s Street in Dublin. The accounts also indicate this arm of Dunnes Stores pays corporation tax here at a rate of 25 per cent, which usually applies to non-trading income, such as investment or rental earnings.

Its corporation tax charge for last year was €861,766. The accounts note its ultimate parent firm is Dunnes Holding Company, an unlimited entity.

The financial statements for Dunnes (George’s Street) show it employed an average of 384 staff last year, down from 391. Despite this, the company’s employee costs rose to €10.1 million from €9.8 million.