DPD, the State’s largest dedicated parcel delivery firm, saw pretax profits jump 14 per cent to €29.07 million last year, the highest to date for the company.
Revenues at Athlone-based Interlink Ireland Ltd came in at €210.22 million, up 7 per cent.
The results come against a background of the collapse of rival Fastway which was struggling to grow its sales and was weighed down with debt.
The principal activity of the business is overnight collection and delivery of parcels through a network of franchises/network members in Ireland. Bumper profits in recent years allowed the company to pay a dividend to €70 million last year.
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“Turnover has continued to increase steadily from the previous year,” the directors said in their statement attached to the accounts. “The expectation of management is that turnover will remain consistent if not slightly increase in the following years”.
The company has 37 depots around the State with the company’s Athlone facility capable of handling up to 21,000 parcels an hour.
The business became part of GeoPost, the parcels and express arm of French Poste, the French post office, back in 2000. In 2008, the Irish business renamed itself DPD.
Ireland accounts for the bulk of the company’s business with a breakdown of revenues showing that turnover here increased from €162.45 million to €173.55 million with sales in the UK rising more modestly, from €26.15 million to €27.67 million.
Operating profit increased by 14 per cent last year to €26.63 million, with interest payments of €2.4 million bringing the pretax number to €29.07 million.
Numbers in the business increased by 69 to 550. Of these, 340 work in production, 183 in administration, 11 in management and 16 in sales. Staff costs increased from €22.06 million to €23.8 million.
Pay to directors was €1.17 million, up from €1.05 million the previous year, including pension contributions of €178,000.
