Profits at Cook Medical’s Irish business jump

Pretax profits at the one of the largest employers in the midwest, Cook Medical, last year increased 56 per cent to €56.86 million.

New accounts filed by the Limerick based Cook Ireland EMEA Group Ltd show that the group recorded the jump in profits after revenues rose 10 per cent to €740 million.

The directors state that the pandemic “continued to impact the company in 2021 but to lesser extent than the impact felt in 2020, as revenue returned to pre-Covid levels”.

The group’s profit after tax of €44.1 million followed €12 million loss in 2020.

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The directors state that the profit for the year is principally related to the 10 per cent increase in turnover and a reduction of €36 million in the tax charge which was inflated considerably in 2020 as a result of booking a Danish tax provision of almost €42 million.

The group has two manufacturing plants in Europe, based in Ireland and Denmark, while the firm’s European master distribution centre is based in Germany.

The group has a large customer base of hospitals and clinics in western Europe and also exports to distributors in eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as supplying products to the North and South American and Asia Pacific markets.

Numbers employed across the group last year were little changed at 2,174 with staff costs increasing from €165.13 million to €183.37 million.

The numbers employed at Limerick subsidiary Cook Ireland Ltd increased from 574 to 615.

Directors’ pay at Cook Medical EMEA Group last year increased from €457,914 to €548,894.

On the group’s future developments, the directors state that management “expect pressure on healthcare budgets to continue in 2022 but are confident that the Group is well positioned to grow”.

The profits take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €8 million and research and development costs of €31.4 million.