Profits jump at Johnson & Johnson’s Irish unit

Republic accounted for €153 million of €8.79 billion in revenue at the business

Pretax profit at the main Irish unit of pharma giant Johnson & Johnson surged 58 per cent to €3.6 billion last year.

New accounts filed by the Cork-based Janssen Sciences UC show the business recorded the sharp increase in profit as revenue rose 9 per cent to €8.79 billion in the 12 months to January 2nd.

A breakdown of the firm’s revenue shows €153 million in sales were recorded in the Republic, €4.45 billion in North America, €4.09 billion in EMEA; €52.46 million in Latin America; and €33.4 million in Asia Pacific.

A subsidiary of US-headquartered Johnson & Johnson, the Ringaskiddy-registered firm recorded a post-tax profit of €3.2 billion after paying corporation tax of €396 million.

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The firm enjoyed the rise in earnings after the company reversed a 2020 non-cash impairment of €635.8 million relating to its investment in subsidiary Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company.

The increased profit last year also takes account of a €137 million gain on the sale of intellectual property offset by finance expenses of €294.84 million.

The directors disclose that the firm proposed a dividend payout of €5 billion earlier this month on November 15th last to Janssen R&D Ireland UC.

Numbers employed by the business last year increased from 725 to 835 and staff costs totalled €98.27 million.

Twelve directors – 10 of whom are Irish – served on the firm’s board last year and shared pay of €3.05 million included pension contributions of €259,000.

The profit last year takes account of €902.07 million in non-cash amortisation costs and €1.18 billion in research and development costs.

The company had shareholder funds of €36.1 billion on January 2nd, which was an increase of €6.5 billion on the financial position one year earlier.

The directors state that this is primarily due to the profit for the financial year of €3.2 billion and a capital contribution of €3.31 billion from Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company.

They state that in a post-balance-sheet event on January 20th they approved a proposal for a further capital injection of €2.8 billion into subsidiary Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times