Profits up at Irish arm of McDonalds

PROFITS AT the Irish arm of fast food giant, McDonalds edged up last year despite an 8 per cent drop in revenues to €85 million.

In documents just filed with the Companies Office, McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland reported pretax profits of €14.87 million for 2009, up just 1.7 per cent from €14.62 million the previous year.

The accounts show the company’s revenues fell by 8 per cent from €93 million to €85.3 million during the year.

The results for the company’s Irish operations are in line with McDonalds global performance last year where revenues dropped to $22.7 billion with pretax profits increasing marginally to $6.4 billion.

The accounts confirm that the Irish subsidiary paid a €12 million dividend to its US parent last year. It had paid no dividend in 2008.

McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland operates 14 outlets in Ireland. The other 64 stores are operated by franchisees. The directors say the group “anticipates continued expansion of its operations in Ireland”.

At the end of December last, the company had accumulated profits of €85.8 million. The company paid Irish taxes of €3.4 million last year compared with €2.7 million in 2008.

Cost of sales were cut last year by 10 per cent to €23.7 million, while administrative expenses dropped by 10.4 per cent, to €47 million.

The number of employees in Ireland last year decreased by 18 per cent or 218 people to 957 staff. Staff costs were 10 per cent lower at €18.7 million.

The filings show that the directors’ remuneration dropped from €596,000 to €517,000.

In the results, McDonald’s took an impairment charge on its land and buildings of €566,000 last year, with an additional depreciation charge of €2.3 million.

The first Irish McDonalds opened on Grafton Street in 1977. Worldwide, the company operates 32,478 restaurants.