Benex profits reduce almost 50% to €54m

PRETAX PROFITS at the main Irish arm of medical technology firm Becton Dickinson last year almost halved to €54 million despite the company increasing revenues to €1.07 billion.

According to accounts just filed by US-owned Benex Ltd to the companies office, pretax profits fell by 47 per cent from €103.3 million to €54.1 million in the 12 months to the end of September last.

This followed the company increasing revenues by 1 per cent from €1.05 billion to €1.07 billion.

The figures show that the firm paid a dividend of €85 million to its parent during the year.

Company filings since 2003 show in the period 2003 to 2011, the company has paid €678 million in dividends to its US parent.

During the same 2003 to 2011 period, the company has paid €102.7 million in corporation tax to the Irish exchequer, that included €7.1 million last year.

During the year under review, one of the world’s richest men, Warren Buffett, disposed of his shares in Becton Dickinson through his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway.

The firm transferred its operations from Shannon to Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, since the year-end and it acts as Becton Dickinson’s “regional distribution and logistics platform for Europe”.

The turnover recorded by the Irish subsidiary of the US medical group represents 13.7 per cent of the global revenues of $7.8 billion (€6.3 billion) last year. The corporation employs 29,000.

The directors’ report states: “There was a 5.8 per cent increase in cost of sales due mainly to increased freight charges which, when taken in combination with the low sales growth, resulted in a decrease in gross profit percentage from 14 per cent last year to less than 11 per cent this year.”

The accounts show that Benex Ltd reduced its employee numbers from 14 to 10 and €568,000 was incurred in “severance pay due to the restructuring programme undertaken in the year”.

The filings show that 89 per cent or €956 million of the company’s sales took place in the EU.

A breakdown of turnover showed €461 million in sales of medical products, €375 million in sales from diagnostic products and €237 million in sales from bioscience products.