A decrease in electricity prices last year contributed to pre-tax profits at waste processing and power generation firm, Indaver Ireland reducing by 19% to €26.68m.
The Belgian-owned Indaver Ireland operates an incinerator at Duleek, Co Meath, that produces enough electricity each year to power the equivalent of Drogheda and Navan combined.
New accounts filed by Indaver Ireland Ltd show that the company recorded the drop in profits as revenues rose by 16% from €121.64m to €140.98m.
The company last year paid out a dividend of €28m and the directors disclose that in a post balance sheet event on July 9 this year that the directors approved a further dividend of stg£22.5m.
In the new 2023 accounts, the directors state that profits decreased “due mainly to lower electricity prices which are determined by market influence including gas prices, electricity demand and availability of supply of generators”.
The directors state that “opportunities to invest at its current installations as well as the development of further sites are constantly being investigated”.
The pre-tax profits of €26.68m followed pre-tax profits of €32.87m in 2022 and €21.13m for 2021.
The new accounts show that the firm’s revenues from ‘sale of services’ increased by 35.5% from €88.8m to €120.46m and this was offset by revenues from the ‘sale of electricity’ decreasing by 37% from €32.7m to €20.5m.
The firm recorded post-tax profits of €22.8m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €3.87m.
In 2022, An Bord Pleanála cleared the way for the Indaver facility at Duleek to increase the amount of waste it receives to 280,000 tonnes of waste per year — up from 235,000 tonnes of waste per year.
Indaver did secure planning permission for a new €160m incinerator for Ringaskiddy in Co Cork in 2018 that has the capacity to treat up to 240,000 tonnes of waste per annum.
However, that permission has been subject to High Court challenge by a local environmental group and the Supreme Court in September 2022 upheld a High Court ruling that the application can be remitted back to An Bord Pleanála for fresh consideration and it remains before the appeals board.
The Ringaskiddy facility is to generate energy which can be converted to electricity to power up to 30,000 homes or used in a district heating system to provide low-carbon heat.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation, amortisation and impairment costs of €11.1m.
Numbers employed increased from 207 to 232 as staff costs rose from €13.68m to €16.9m.
Directors’ pay last year decreased from €442,279 to €422,370.
The directors state that they advocate and invest in Irish infrastructure to make the island self-sufficient in waste processing.
They state that “this is very necessary as the island’s population grows and capacity constraints increase at domestic landfills and European outlets”.
At the end of December last, the firm had shareholder funds of €110.59m that included accumulated profits of €23.4m. The firm’s cash funds decreased sharply from €2.85m to €48,604.