Pharma firm’s profits quadruple to €341m

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish subsidiary of US-owned pharmaceutical firm, Forest Laboratories last year increased more than four-fold to $426.49m (€341m).

This followed revenues at the Dublin-based firm increasing by 16% from $2.13bn to $2.48bn in the 12 months to the end of March.

The $2.1bn in revenues generated by the Dublin unit accounted for 69% of the company’s global revenues of $3.6bn in fiscal 2014.

The company is the license holder to manufacture and distribute certain Forest pharmaceutical products in the US.

The Irish firm last year paid dividends of $404m.

In July of this year, Actavis purchased Forest Laboratories global business for $28bn in cash and equity.

The combination created one of the world’s fastest-growing specialty pharmaceutical companies, with annual revenues of more than $15bn anticipated for 2015.

The numbers employed by the Dublin-based subsidiary increased from 333 to 372, with staff costs increasing from $28.7m to $39.2m.

The report stated: “During the 2014 fiscal year, the company launched two additional products. The revenues generated by these products, together with continued growth in the three products launched in 2013, and strong performance on mature products, combined to generate a significant increase in total revenue compared to the prior year.”

The accounts show that the firm recorded an operating profit of $410.3m and net interest receivable of $16.1m added to the firm’s profits.

The firm also benefited from “other operating income” of $14.3m compared to $841,000 under that heading in fiscal 2013. The figures also show that the company paid $26.9m in taxes on its $426.49m profits.