A SHANNON-BASED technology firm that cut its workforce by one-third in July paid out a dividend of $33 million (€25.6 million) in 2007, returns to the Companies Registration Office show.

In July, US-owned Avocent International announced 57 job cuts at its Shannon plant, with a further seven employees losing their jobs at the company’s Dublin office.

According to recently filed accounts, the Irish arm of Avocent paid out a dividend of $33 million in 2007 – more than six times the $4.9 million dividend in 2006.

The redundancies ended the firm’s research and development capability in Shannon and resulted in the transfer of its Asian operations to Singapore.

The figures show Avocent’s Asian sales accounted for 35 per cent or $71 million of the Irish group’s revenues, with $126 million coming from its European, Middle Eastern and African operations.

Avocent International recorded a pretax profit of $25 million – down 44 per cent on 2006. The fall arose from the cost of business increasing dramatically in 2007.

Revenues rose by 8 per cent to $202 million. However, the “cost of sales” increased by 28 per cent to $103 million, while operating expenses rose by 23 per cent to $75 million. After the dividend payout, the Irish arm had retained profits of $49.7 million at the end of December.

The figures show staff costs rose by 23 per cent last year to $16 million, while directors’ remuneration included a fee of $829,000 for management services.

Alabama-based Avocent International employs more than 1,800 staff worldwide.