Profits slumped 42 per cent at the main Irish unit of pharma giant Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) as a decision to change the unit’s product mix saw revenues fall by 10 per cent to $15.5 billion (€15 billion).
Swords Laboratories, based in north Dublin, manufactures biopharma and bulk active pharmaceutical ingredient product for businesses in the wider group. The $15.5 billion sales figure in the accounts for 2023, filed in recent days, equate to about a third of BMS’s global revenues of $45 billion in that year.
The directors said revenues fell by $917.52 million due to a change in product mix, pricing and volume, and the timing of the manufacture and distribution of new products. That was partly behind the 42 per cent slide in profits to €3.97 billion for the year.
The company also booked $113.6 million in stock write-offs and suffered an adverse $60 million swing on foreign exchange. And it paid a dividend of $5.4 billion, up from $4.82 billion the previous year. The company subsequently paid dividends of $900 million after the year-end.
What’s in store for 2025?
Swords Labs, which has been operating here since November 1977, is investing $400 million in a new biologics sterile product facility at its Cruiserath campus in Mulhuddart — the company’s first such facility in Europe. That will add about 300 staff to the workforce which stood at 1,120 at the end of 2023, up 196 on the previous year.
Staff costs increased from $141.6 million to $176.07 million which includes salaries and wages of $140.84 million and share-based compensation costs of $6.8 million and other employee costs of $3.2 million.
At the end of December 2023, Swords Laboratories UC’s shareholder funds were $1.3 billion, including accumulated profits of $297.47 million.
- Sign up for the Business Today newsletter and get the latest business news and commentary in your inbox every weekday morning
- Opt in to Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
