Irish subsidiary of Western Union reports $136.2m loss

A Dublin-based holding company of money transfer giant Western Union has filed a $136.2 million (€114.1 million) pretax loss for the year ending April 2020 after it recorded a $133.6 million writedown on the value of its investment.

Newly filed accounts for Western Union Ireland Holding Limited shows the company’s parent, Bermuda-based MT Holdings, subsequently converted its debt owed by the unit into equity, a move that returned it to solvency.

The Irish subsidiary, which is a holding company for the shares of a number of Western Union entities, was the beneficiary of a €5.9 million dividend from another related company, Western Union Retail Services Ireland, last year.

That company is to shortly transfer its business to other group entities this year after being broken up.

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Western Union Retail Services, which unlike sister companies reports earnings in euro rather than dollars, recorded turnover of just €689,074 in the year prior to its break-up, versus €5.96 million in 2018.

Global revenue

The money transfer giant, founded in Denver, Colorado, in 1851, recorded revenues of $5.3 billion last year. It also delivered more than $900 million in operating cash flow and returned more than $880 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. It employs more than 12,000 people globally, including about 300 in Dublin.

Western Union Payment Services Ireland Limited, which employs the bulk of its Irish employees, in 2019 reported revenues of $892.6 million, up 10 per cent on the $863.9 million recorded in 2018 with pretax profits totalling $22.5 million, compared with $37.4 million in the previous year.

The company paid out $22 million in dividends to its parent in 2019.

Western Union Payment Services Ireland, which was fined €1.75 million by the Central Bank four years ago amid failures in anti-money laundering practices, has seen staffing levels decline substantially in recent years from more than 400 people in 2017.