Pre-tax profits almost doubled at the Irish unit of chocolate giant Mars Foods last year to €27.6m.
New accounts show that Mars Food Ireland Ltd’s pre-tax profits surged by 73% after revenues increased by 11% from €129.7m to €143.76m.
The business generates revenues from four categories – food, chocolate, pet care and gum.
The directors state that the rise in revenues arose from growth in all segments “through a focus on driving the profitable mix, mainly driven by the chocolate and gum portfolio”.
They add that administration expenses decreased by 8% from €11.55m to €10.64m and cost of sales increased by 5% from €102.2m to €107.7m.
The directors state that this was “managed as a result of good control of expenses despite the increase in raw materials due to inflation, resulting in an increase in profit after tax”.
The company paid an interim dividend last year of €32.03m and this followed a dividend payout of €26.04m in 2022.
The company’s operating profits increased by 59.5% from €15.9m to €25.4m and interest payments receivable of €2.2m resulted in the pre-tax profit of €27.6m.
Some of the firm’s best known brands here include Mars, M&Ms Bounty, Milky Way, Snickers, Starburst, Pedigree, Ben’s Original, Dolmio and Whiskas.
On the firm’s future developments, the board “recognises the continued market challenges in the sectors within which we operate and is committed to further strengthening the relationship we have with our key trading partners”.
On the risks facing the firm, the directors state that the company “is well placed to take advantage of changes in the marketplace and that recent levels of profitability will be maintained”.
The company recorded post tax profits of €23.57m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €4.03m.
At the end of December last, the company had shareholder funds of €36.32m.
Numbers employed by the sales and marketing firm here last year declined by six from 55 to 49 with staff costs increasing from €7.93m to €8.6m.
Numbers employed were made up of 34 in selling and marketing and 15 in administration.
The company said that directors’ pay totalled €405,000 made up of €390,000 in emoluments and €15,000 in pension contributions.
The profit for last year takes account of combined non-cash amortisation and depreciation costs of €1.8m.
The loss also takes account of a non-cash impairment loss of €196,000. The business also made an actuarial loss on pension schemes of €1.1m last year.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan