THE HOLDING company for Boston Scientific's Irish and a number of its international subsidiaries last year recorded an operating profit of $432 million.
However, accounts filed by "BSC International Holding Ltd and Subsidiaries" to the Companies Office show that the holding company sustained a pre-tax loss of $107 million as a result of financing commitments for the $27 billion acquisition of the Guidant Corporation in 2006.
Bank interest repayments arising from the deal amounted to $578 million in 2007.
In 2006, the holding company recorded pre-tax profits of $190 million.
At the operating level, BSC International's operating profit of $432 million was down 11 per cent on the $488 million recorded in 2006.
The medical device manufacturer is one of Ireland's largest multinationals, employing more than 4,500 people here, accounting for almost half of the 9,882 people employed by the BSC International Holding Ltd and Subsidiaries.
Last August, the US-owned group, which has plants in Galway, Cork, Clonmel and Letterkenny, announced plans to shut down its Tullamore manufacturing site with the loss of 240 jobs. In September, the company announced a €50 million investment in RD at its Galway unit, which is the largest manufacturing site within the corporation, employing 3,000.
There is no breakdown provided for the performance of the BSC's Irish subsidiaries. The holding company's listed subsidiaries are based in Ireland, Europe, Asia, Africa and Central and South America.
The group paid $101 million in corporation taxes last year, up from $60 million in 2006.
The returns show that the holding company increased revenues by 14 per cent in 2007 to $5.2 billion, while its costs of sales increased by 34 per cent from $1.83 billion in 2006 to $2.47 billion last year. The accounts also show that RD expenditure increased by $119 million to $602 million in 2007.
The accounts also confirm that Boston Scientific received a milestone payment of $158 million from the sale of its vascular intervention and endovascular businesses in 2006 as a result of the product receiving Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory approval in the US.
Boston Scientific realised $174 million from its sales of its cardiac surgery and vascular surgery businesses to the Swedish Getinge Group in the first quarter of 2008.
