Business

Bristol Myers Squibb’s Irish outfit pays €15.5bn in dividends over three years

Bristol Myers Squibb Ireland Holdings UC recorded pre-tax profits of $5.27 bn in 2022

Dublin-based unit of pharma giant Bristol Myers Squibb paid out dividends of just under €6 billion last year. Photograph: Reuters

Gordon Deegan
Fri Apr 12 2024 - 17:02

A Dublin based unit of pharma giant, Bristol Myers Squibb last year paid out dividends of just under €6 billion ($6.3 billion).

The dividend payout for 2023 brings to $16.5 billion (€15.5 billion) the amount Bristol Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland UC has paid out across 2023, 2022 and 2021.

The €6.3 billion dividend payout followed one of $5.47 billion in 2022 and $4.74 billion in 2021.

A note attached to the accounts states that the company received dividends of $5.65 billion from subsidiary firms in 2023.

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Earlier this year, Fingal County Council granted planning permission to a connected Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) firm – Swords Laboratories UC – for a new manufacturing plant in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 that will employ 300 people once operational.

Bristol Myers Squibb operates its Cruiserath Biologics Campus, a $1 billion multi-product Cell Culture Biologics manufacturing facility at its Mulhuddart base.

The pharma giant has been in operation here since 1964, employing over 650 people across a range of activities and global business units including commercial operations and its European Treasury Centre.

Bristol Myers Squibb Ireland Holdings UC is a holding company for other BMS group firms and owns and manages selected intellectual property rights for certain pharma products.

The firm generates its revenues from dividend income from other BMS firms and royalty income.

In 2022, it recorded pretax profits of $5.27 billion which was a 13 per cent increase on the pretax profits of $4.65 billion in 2021.

The firm recorded the increase in profits as its dividend income in 2022 increased by 17.4 per cent from $4.1 billion to $4.82 billion.

The company also benefited from $4.58 billion in royalty income offset by royalty expenses of $3.28 billion while profits were also hit by non-cash amortisation charges of $219 million.

The directors state that the company is incorporated in Ireland but has its head office in Switzerland.

The company incurred a corporation tax charge of $59.1m resulting in post tax profits of $5.2 billion. A note attached to the accounts states that “tax rates are based on Swiss tax since the company is tax resident in Switzerland”.

The accounts state that $4.82 billion of the dividend income was not subject to tax, reducing its taxable profits by that amount.

At the end of December, 2022 the company had shareholder funds of $16.5 billion that included accumulated profits of $14.49 billion.

Globally in 2023, Bristol Myers Squibb recorded revenues of $45 billion. The group’s best selling drug in 2023 was Eliquis which is a blood thinner medicine that reduces blood clotting.

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