Sales at Huawei’s Irish subsidiary jump by 45% in a year

The Irish subsidiary of Chinese telecoms and IT giant Huawei Technologies recorded a 45 per cent rise in sales last year, newly filed accounts show.

Revenues at Huawei Technologies (Ireland) Limited rose from €40.5 million to €58.7 million over the 12 months, with the company attributing the jump in sales to increased project wins.

Pre-tax profits increased by more than 21 per cent to €1.59 million last year, as against €1.3 million a year earlier.

The unit’s principal activities are the sale, distribution and maintenance of communications equipment, which includes fixed and wireless networks. The company opened a new R&D office in the IFSC in Dublin last November in a move that led to the creation of 50 new jobs.

A breakdown of turnover shows €47 million in revenue came from sales of goods, up from €37 million in the prior year.

“Management believes that business will continue to grow under the 2016 business plan and result in achieving strong financial performance in an improving economic climate and a return to profitability,” the directors said.

Revenues

The company’s parent is China’s biggest maker of phone network equipment. The group, which had revenues of 395 billion yuan (€53.4 billion) in 2015, employs 170,000 people worldwide and its products and services are used by customers in more than 170 countries.

The Irish unit employed 60 people last year, up from 53 a year earlier. Employee-related costs rose from €4.8 million in 2014 to €7.3 million in 2015.

Huawei has been operating in the Irish market since May 2004 and currently works with all the major telecom providers in Ireland, with its products and services now serving approximately two million people in the country.

The group’s first Irish R&D centre opened in 2011 in Athlone, and a year later the company established a customer experience centre in Cork. The company recently expanded its research and development investment in Ireland by buying the software defined networking (SDN) technology of Irish firm Amartus. for an undisclosed sum last July.