Dublin-domiciled Medtronic, the world's largest standalone medical device maker, saw profits more than double at its main Irish subsidiary last year as turnover jumped by almost 500 per cent due to a change in the company's operating structure.
Accounts recently lodged for Medtronic Ireland Limited show the Irish unit recorded a pretax profit of €1.58 million for the 12 months ending April 2016, as against €646,531 a year earlier.
Turnover, which comprised revenue from the sale of medical devices in Ireland, rose from €6.8 million to €40.4 million. The rise in sales was attributed to the change in operating structure. Prior to the latest reporting period, the subsidiary operated under a commissionaire structure with its parent Medtronic International Trading, with turnover consisting entirely of commission and other inter-company charges received.
Gross profit totalled €9.1 million versus €6.8 million in the previous year.
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The latest accounts show Medtronic Ireland Limited had net assets of €2.8 million at the end of the financial year, compared to €1.4 million a year earlier. It also had cash on hand of €5 million versus €2.8 million in the previous reporting period.
While a €700,000 dividend was paid for the 12 months ending April 2015, there was no dividend last year.
The company, which employs 35 people in sales locally, saw staff costs rise to €2.5 million from €2.3 million a year earlier.
Medtronic, which sells defibrillators, pacemakers, heart valves and stents, became Ireland's largest company when it started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in January 2015 following its $49.9 billion (€47.3bn) acquisition of Dublin-domiciled surgical supplies group Covidien.
The deal enabled the Minneapolis-based business to move its corporate headquarters to Ireland in a new holding company, Medtronic plc, in one of the largest corporate inversions to date.
The group is due to update investors on its third quarter performance later on Tuesday.
