THE US-BASED parent of Galway refrigeration unit manufacturer Thermo King, which this week said it was laying off 110 workers, has taken dividend payments of €928 million from its Irish subsidiaries over the past two years.
Accounts just filed for Ingersoll Rand Irish Holdings, which wholly owns Thermo King, show it made a windfall payment of €878 million to its parent group last year and €50 million in 2006.
Much of this appears to relate to the €885 million sales of its Bobcat utility equipment business in July 2007, which netted the Irish company a profit of €730 million.
The Irish companies are owned by Ingersoll Rand, a commercial products manufacturer that employs 64,000 staff worldwide and has annual revenues of $8.8 billion. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Ingersoll is incorporated in Bermuda with its headquarters in New Jersey.
The details of these enormous transfers are likely to anger Thermo King's 600-strong workforce at its manufacturing operation at Mervue Road in Galway, following the company's decision to reduce its headcount.
Pat Keane, regional secretary of the TEEU trade union, which represents workers at Thermo King, expressed his anger at the repatriation of such large sums in advance of the Irish operation being scaled down. "This isn't about losing money, it's about making more money," he said.
Mr Keane said that at least 70 temporary workers have also been laid off by Thermo King in Galway, bringing the total reduction in the workforce to close to 200.
The company said the job cuts were due to the downturn in the economy and a lack of orders.
Mr Keane said the company is profitable and Thermo King's decision to reduce the Irish workforce was the result of it focusing on plants in other countries.
"They are making money, but they've decided to go to other parts of the world to make even more money," he said.
Ingersoll Rand Irish Holdings achieved an operating profit of €141 million on turnover of €1.3 billion from "continuing operations" in 2007. It made a pretax profit of €860 million when the windfall from the sale of its Bobcat subsidiary was included.
It had shareholder funds of €55.8 million at the end of 2007.
The company paid €18.4 million in tax last year as a result of various credits and allowable deductions. Ingersoll's Irish operations employed 1,678 workers here last year, a reduction of just under 300 on 2006.
