Aramark, a company that owns retailer Avoca and operates a controversial direct provision centre in Co Clare, continued to lose money last year despite receiving in excess of €10 million in Covid-related Government supports.
Consolidated accounts filed recently for Aramark Ireland Holdings – a holding company in the US food services and facilities management outfit’s Irish group – show revenues at the Campbell Catering-owner jumped 18 per cent in the year to the end of September 2023, to €314 million. But the group saw another operating loss in 2023, with administrative costs rising 7 per cent to almost €110.4 million amid an increase in staff numbers.
After-tax losses at the group, which employed 4,889 people in 2023, narrowed from more than €11 million in 2022 to €7.4 million last year. There was a sharp uptick in restructuring and redundancy costs, climbing from €1.6 million to nearly €5.9 million in the year.
Government subsidies, however, put a gloss on Aramark’s bottom line with the group receiving almost €10.6 million from the State in 2023 in respect of “various forms of subsidised wage schemes, to provide relief for entities during the Covid-19 pandemic”, according to the accounts.
It is not clear from the accounts, which cover a 12-month period after the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme ended for most businesses in April 2022, what subsidies the company was in receipt of over the period. Aramark declined to comment.
In a report attached to the accounts its directors said the company “continues to focus on driving growth and promoting efficiencies across the portfolio”. They said the group’s “revenue performance and indeed the reduction in the reported loss reflect both the organisation’s strategy to drive growth in profitability and win new business”.
Meanwhile, the direct provision operator, which runs three centres for international protection applicants, saw turnover in its property management business increase by 14 per cent in the year to €11.8 million, while facilities management revenues increased by around 9 per cent to more than €64.1 million.
Aramark’s operations at the Knockalisheen direct provision centre in Co Clare, on the outskirts of Limerick City, were the subject of a critical Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report earlier this year after inspectors visited the site in early January. They found “significant deficits” in standards, and noted the housing was “unsuitable” with “underdeveloped governance and oversight”.
Garda vetting was not in place for a number of staff and international police checks had not been carried out on others who had lived abroad, rendering recruitment practices at the centre “not sufficiently safe or effective”, inspectors said. Eleven staff members had not undergone mandatory Children First training, the report noted.
Aramark said at the time it had submitted a compliance plan, and would implement the necessary changes by the end of the year.
The group also operates restaurants in hospitals and college campuses – where it is the subject of a Union of Students in Ireland boycott over its role in the direct provision system – as well as the cafe in the National Gallery of Ireland. Its role in the latter became national news in 2022 when staff at the gallery wrote to the board expressing discontent over the award of the contract to Aramark.
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