Corporate profits climb 30% to almost €80bn in fourth quarter of 2022

The profits of corporations operating in the State arrived at almost €80 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 – a 30 per cent increase on the same period the previous year – according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The €79.8 billion in profits recorded for the final three months of last year compares to a figure of €61.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2021, or an €18.5 billion increase.

Across 2022 as a whole, the CSO estimates that corporate profits reached €297.5 billion.

The majority of this figure relates to the performance of foreign-owned corporations, which saw a near doubling of their profits between 2017 and 2022.

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“The results show that profits in foreign-owned corporations are growing at a faster pace [than Irish-owned ones], with 2022 profits of €261 billion representing a 98 per cent increase over 2017,” said Conor Prescott, national accounts income statistician at the CSO.

Corporations in the industry sector – which includes the pharmaceutical sector – have been the largest earners, making a profit of €43.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than half the total. Information and communication was the next largest sector, earning €19.7 billion in this period.

All six sectors have displayed year-on-year increases, the CSO said. Profits in the “other services” sector comprising activities across hospitality, transportation, legal and accounting, entertainment and real estate, among others, rebounded throughout 2022.

The CSO also issued estimates of net corporate profits, which remove the depreciation associated with fixed capital such as machinery, buildings and intellectual property. In the fourth quarter of 2022, net corporate profits arrived at €50 billion, it said.

While there was a slight dip in the total gross corporate profits figure at the start of 2022, a surge in corporate profits began to take hold in the second quarter of last year. In the third quarter, they reached €81.3 billion.

This performance by multinationals based in the State resulted in a corporation tax bonanza for the exchequer in 2022, but also prompted Government warnings that the unexpectedly large sums might not last indefinitely.

Of the €22.6 billion in corporation tax receipts collected last year, the Department of Finance has estimated that more than €10 billion is a “windfall” that cannot be relied upon into the future.

The ongoing bumper tax receipts in the first quarter of 2023, however, has put the Government on course to exceed its targets for the year once again.