Company linked to Loyaltybuild data breach made €4.47m last year

Loyaltybuild, the Co Clare-based company at the centre of the data breach controversy, made a pre-tax profit of €4.47 million last year, on a turnover of €11.16 million.

Approximately one-third of its turnover (€3.3 million) was in Ireland while the rest (€7.85 million) was in other European countries.

The turnover comes from the commission it gets on discounted holiday packages sold as part of customer loyalty programmes run for retail and other businesses that use Loyaltybuild’s services.

It is part of the Affinion Group, which describes itself as a global leader in the designing, marketing and servicing of comprehensive customer engagement and loyalty programmes. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, the group has about 4,300 employees and operations in 19 countries.

Although the company is ultimately owned by Affinion, its immediate parent is a company based in the Netherlands.

In its accounts for 2012, which were filed in June of this year, Loyaltybuild said it planned to continue to expand its activities in existing markets and through developing partnerships in new markets.

The accounts show the company had an average of 52 employees during the year, at a cost of €3.14 million. The company paid a dividend during 2012 of €7.4 million.

In its accounts, the company said that holding on to key staff was critical to its business and it had invested in training and development and introduced incentive and career progression arrangements.

Ryanair
Earlier this year another Affinion subsidiary, Webloyalty, which describes itself as a leading reward programme provider, announced its expansion into the Republic of Ireland, saying it would be working with Ryanair and other online retail and travel businesses to help them build stronger relationships with their customers.

Webloyalty has worked with Ryanair in the UK and a number of European markets since 2009. Yesterday a Ryanair spokesman said it had not contacted Webloyalty as a result of the security breach at Loyaltybuild. “They are two different companies,” he said.

Webloyalty runs the completesavings.ie website, aimed at online shoppers.