The directors of the luggage handling firm that apologised for its role in the number of bags that went missing at Dublin Airport in July 2022 has said that staffing issues have been addressed for the upcoming summer travel season.
Accounts for Swissport Ireland Ltd show that it recorded pretax profits of €12.05 million in 2022 as the aviation sector recovered from Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions.
The firm recorded the pretax profits as revenues rose by 61 per cent from €32.56 million to €52.46 million.
In 2022 Seissport received €1.75 million in State Covid-19 wage supports. The company received €8.38 million under that heading in 2021.
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The €8.38 million in Covid wage supports for 2021 appeared as “other operating income” on the company’s profit and loss accounts and skewed profits for the year resulting in a pretax profit of €14.41 million.
In a note with the accounts the directors said that “the company believes that it is well positioned as the partner of choice for airlines as they prepare to turn the page from Covid-19 and ramp up operations in the future”.
The note said that “there was a significant challenge in 2022 to recruit and train enough staff to meet the surge in demand and labour although this has been addressed for the upcoming summer season 2024″.
The directors said that “latest industry intelligence is forecasting summer 2024 to be ahead of 2022, and improved activity levels over the ongoing concern assessment to December 31st, 2024″.
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Numbers employed increased from 781 to 843 in 2022 as management roles remained static at 19 and the headcount in operations and supervision increased from 762 to 824.
Staff costs were €24.3 million, comprising €23.3 million in wages and salaries, €2.5 million in social security costs, €220,000 in pension costs offset by the Covid-19 Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme of €1.75 million.
The firm provides services to airlines operating from Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports and a breakdown of revenues shows that the company generated €34.7 million in ground handling, €16.8 million in cargo and €894,000 under the heading of “other”.
The profit for 2022 takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.14 million.
The firm recorded post-tax profits of €10.46m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.58m.
At the end of 2022, the firm’s shareholder funds totalled €33.54 million while its cash funds declined from €18.1 million to €1.89 million.
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