Pretax profits at the main Irish arm of pharmaceutical firm Teva slumped by two thirds to $121.34 million (€113.72 million) in 2021.
Norton (Waterford) Ltd is one of the largest employers in the southeast and accounts show that the company recorded the drop after revenues fell 11 per cent to $822.18 million.
The main factor behind the sharp drop in pretax profits at the Israeli-owned firm was income from subsidiaries declining from $112.5 million to $1.65 million.
Numbers employed at the company in 2021 increased from 640 to 656. The manufacturing side of the business employed 463 people, with 193 in management, selling and distribution.
Staff costs increased from $63.35 million to $65.84 million, including share-based payments of $1.58 million.
The firm in 2021 paid out a dividend of $420 million. This followed a dividend payout of $387.06 million in 2020.
The directors said that they considered the company’s performance during the year and its year end position to be in line with business expectations.
A breakdown of company revenues show that the US is the firm’s largest market accounting for $567.32 million – or 69 per cent – of sales.
The firm recorded revenues of $63.33 million here along with sales of $91.66 million in the UK and $89.59 million in “rest of Europe”. The business’s remaining sales of $10.28 million occurred in “rest of world”.
Directors’ pay totalled $1.05 million made up of emoluments of $777,000; share-based payments of $184,000 and $92,000 in pension contributions.
Pay to key management personnel totalled $3.86 million and that included salaries of $2.95 million, share-based payments of $526,000 and $388,000 in post-employment benefits.
The company recorded operating profits of $113.26 million and net interest payments of $8.08 million resulted in the pretax profits of $121.34 million.
The firm incurred Research & Development charges of $50.83 million net of R&D tax credit.
The directors state that the company is currently undertaking R&D into global respiratory products and is committed to maximising and sustaining long term growth opportunity for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd by bringing to the market respiratory products using dosage forms and delivery systems that best meet patients’ needs.
At the end of December 2021, the firm had shareholder funds of $1.47 billion that included accumulated profits of $148.42 million.
