Dell’s Irish subsidiary pays €640m in dividends to Dutch-based parent

Irish unit, which employs close to 2,000 people, reports revenues of €12.3bn

One of Dell’s key Irish subsidiaries paid $712 million (€639 million) in dividends to its Dutch parent entity last year, new accounts show. Over the same period, the company received a capital contribution of $557.7 million from the parent.

Dell Products, which sells and distributes the group's products in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), employs close to 2,000 people locally, with headcount having doubled last year after it took ownership of another Irish unit known as Dell Direct a year earlier.

Pretax profits almost doubled at Dell Products in the year to February 2019, jumping from $12.75 million to $23.95 million.

During the same period, revenues rose by 14 per cent or $1.7 billion to $13.7 billion (€12.3 billion), due in part to increased demand for servers.

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A breakdown of turnover shows hardware revenues totalled $12.6 billion while software-related sales came to $318.9 million. The company also reported revenues of $790.8 million for professional services and $9.1 million for service fees.

Capital contribution

The latest accounts show that Dell Products received a capital contribution of $557.7 million from its parent last year via a transfer of shares in another group subsidiary, Dell GmBH.

Employee costs more than doubled last year on the back of increased staff numbers to $218.9 million.

The technology giant’s Irish subsidiaries have increasingly focused on paying out dividends to its parent in recent years. Dell Direct, the computer giant’s Cherrywood-based sales and support operations unit prior to its €15.9 million acquisition by is sister company, paid out €172 million to Dell International Holdings in 2017, its last full year of trading.

Dell, which acquired data storage systems specialist EMC in a $67 billion deal in 2015, employs about 5,000 people in total in the Republic.

Recently filed accounts show Co Cork-headquartered EMC Information Systems reported a $1 billion increase in turnover to $5.2 billion in the year to the end of February. The company subsequently paid a $135 million dividend to its immediate parent.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist