Element Six returns to profitability

THE MAIN Irish arm of industrial diamond manufacturer, Element Six has returned to profit only a year after its Shannon plant was threatened by closure.

Accounts just filed by De Beers-backed Element Six show that the company recorded a pre-tax profit of $42.4 million (€30.7 million) last year.

This followed substantial losses in the previous three years.

The company returned to profit after increasing revenues by 58 per cent to $325.1 million from $205.5 million in 2010..

The facility – established in Shannon in 1960 – was faced with closure in July-August 2009.

A survival plan was put together that involved the loss of 207 jobs. The figures show that more than half the combined $71 million loss for 2007-09 went towards restructuring the Shannon operation.

The company, co-owned by De Beers (60 per cent) and Umicore (40 per cent), paid an interim dividend of $19 million in December 2010.

The figures show that the numbers employed by the company fell by 119 from 470, with staff costs declining by 12.5 per cent from $31.7 million to $27.7 million. The company’s wage bill in 2008 was $62 million.

The returns show that the company was also shaken up at board level last year with six new appointments, including Element Six global chief executive Cyrus Jilla taking a seat on the Irish board.