Enterprise software and hardware giant Oracle’s main Irish subsidiary saw its Irish corporation tax bill fall by almost a third last year as it reported a 14 per cent drop in pretax profits.

Accounts recently filed for Oracle EMEA Limited for the 12 months to the end of May 2015, show the company reported a pretax profit of €109 million compared with €127 million a year earlier.

Turnover from continuing operations was up 4 per cent to €8.14 billion from €7.85 billion.

Oracle is the world’s largest provider of enterprise software and one of the biggest for computer hardware products and services.

In recent years it has expanded its business in a move that has led it to move away from databases to become a leading cloud computing firm.

The group’s Irish unit, whose head office is in Dublin’s East Point Business Park, said it employed 1,282 in 2015, up from 1,163 a year earlier.

Cloud business

Staff costs, including wages and salaries, increased from €90.2 million to €101.9 million.

In January, Oracle announced 450 new sales jobs in Dublin as part of a major new expansion to support the growth of its cloud business.

The company’s tax liability was €39 million in 2015, compared with a bill of €58 million a year earlier.

Oracle said it invested €35.9 million in research and development activities last year, up from €38.5 million in 2014.

The group's parent, which was founded by Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Milner in 1977, has a market cap of more than $175 billion and annual revenues that top $38 billion.