Pretax profit of €15m for McDonald’s in Ireland

The 11 restaurants that are owned by McDonald’s in Ireland achieved a pretax profit of just under €15 million last year on revenues of €78.4 million, according to its latest accounts.

This compared with a pretax profit of €15.6 million on revenues of €81.4 million in 2012. The reduction reflects the fact that some of the company-owned restaurants moved to being franchised operations during 2013.

There were 73 McDonald’s restaurants operated by franchisees at the end of last year. When these are included, the US fast food giant’s sales here reached €224 million, up from €220 million in 2012.

The company told The Irish Times yesterday that it refurbished eight restaurants last year at a cost of €3 million. It also opened a new outlet in Temple Bar in Dublin, creating 60 new jobs.

Adrian Crean, managing director of McDonald's Restaurants of Ireland, said: "The performance of the business continued to be positive in 2013 amid a challenging consumer landscape.

“We have continued to increase customer visits to our restaurants by offering relevant menu choices across all ‘dayparts’ and . . . continued to invest in opening new restaurants and refurbishing our existing restaurants. This will continue through 2014 and beyond [and] we look ahead with confidence to continuing our investment plans.”

So far this year McDonald’s has opened a large company-owned restaurant at Dublin Airport and added franchised cafes in Kilkenny and Carrickmines. This involved an investment of €6 million.

It is also revamping its flagship store on Grafton Street at a cost of €2 million. This will reopen around the end of November, while another cafe is due to open in Ballincollig, Co Cork.

On trading in the first 10 months of 2014, McDonald’s said its “year-on-year sales have increased”. The accounts show that McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland Ltd did not pay a dividend to its US parent. It closed the year with shareholders’ funds of €116.5 million.

The average number of staff employed was 839 compared with 813 in 2012. Total staff costs reduced to €15.6 million from €16.8 million in 2012.

McDonald’s said it purchased more than 40,000 tonnes of Irish beef last year, about 10 per cent of Ireland’s output by volume.