Tyco International revenues soar 400% to over €49m

Annual pretax profits at an IFSC-based finance unit owned by US conglomerate Tyco International have grown by almost 400 per cent to $61.72 million (€49.62 million), according to accounts just filed in the Companies Office.

Tyco International Finance (Ireland), which has unlimited liability, provides financial services and loans to its parent and to other companies. The rise in its pretax profits was recorded after net interest income grew to $64.01 million in the 12 months to September 30th, 2004, from $18.65 million a year earlier.

With the $61.72 million pretax profit up from $15.56 million in 2003, the unit reported a net profit of $57.28 million after paying corporation taxes of $4.43 million.

The IFSC unit, which employs seven, had retained profits of $106.86 million at the end of its financial year.

The accounts say that it did not pay a dividend to its parent in the most recent financial year or in the previous year.

Former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz were convicted in the New York courts last month of stealing more than $150 million from the group and of falsifying business records.

He became a symbol of corporate excess when the series of scandals broke in 2001-2002, leading to the introduction of the tough corporate reform law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Shares in the group industrial conglomerate dropped nearly 10 per cent last week after its new management issued a second profits warning in three months, and analysts downgraded investor recommendations.

Since the departure of Kozlowski and Swartz in 2002, Tyco's new chief executive and chairman Ed Breen had been credited with a remarkable return to form for Tyco, which saw its share price more than triple in two years.

Although quarterly earnings rose 29 per cent to $1.2 billion, the company warned of tough conditions ahead due to continued difficulties in its fire alarm business, weak automotive sales and a squeeze from commodity prices.