Staffing levels at Norbrook’s arm in the Republic remained stable in the year to the end of July last year even as the wider group undertook a programme of redundancies to trim costs at the veterinary medicine maker.
The group, founded by the late businessman Edward Haughey, is a significant employer in the Newry area. However, its main Northern Ireland entity reported a roughly 80 per cent decline in pretax profits to £3.8 million (€4.4m) in the year to the end of July last in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK before Christmas.
Against this backdrop, Norbrook, which employed around 2,000 people at the time, said last May it would look to cut 180 jobs as it explored “ways to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies” amid a “challenging global economic environment”.
Accounts filed in Dublin recently by Norbrook Laboratories (Ireland) Ltd, which markets and distributes the pharma firm’s products in the Republic from its base in Monaghan, reveal a modest decline in revenues in its latest financial year from €16.5 million in 2022 to €15.6 million. Pretax profits also declined modestly from more than €735,500 to roughly €707,500 last year
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Yet, staffing levels remained essentially unchanged last year at 18 compared with 19 in 2022.
In a report attached to the accounts, the directors said the external trading environment is expected to remain “extremely competitive” this year “as national and international competitors continue retain market share”. However, they said the board is confident in its future performance.
In the group accounts filed late last year, directors said the financial performance was “disappointing”. “Whilst sales increased,” they said, “they were disappointing versus what we had anticipated and, as a result, we took the difficult decision to reduce our headcount.”
Sales grew by 0.4 per cent over the 12-month period, up from 0.2 per cent in the year to the end of June 2022, “lower than anticipated levels”, the directors said. Meanwhile, Norbrook’s gross margin was squeezed from more than 40 per cent to 35 per cent in the year as sales costs swelled by almost 9 per cent to £151.1 million.
The group was founded in 1969 by Mr Haughey, Lord Ballyedmond. He died in a helicopter crash in 2014. The company is now controlled by a family trust, while Mr Haughey’s widow controls a stake of 21 per cent.
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