Arrow Group, one of the State’s largest meat processors, paid a dividend of €21 million to shareholders last year as profits and revenues at the Queally family-owned group surged.
Turnover at the group, which owns and operates plants in the Republic as well as the UK and Germany, increased by 1.6 per cent to €759.2 million in 2023, according to accounts filed recently with the Companies Registration Office.
After tax profits, meanwhile, almost doubled from €11 million in 2022 to €20.3 million last year as the group cut its sales costs by 3 per cent to almost €655 million while group distribution costs fell by around 3 per cent to €16.8 million.
In a report attached to the accounts, the directors said Arrow manages its energy costs through forward contracts and day-ahead contracts to “mitigate against sudden increases in price for electricity and gas”. They said the group was “well placed” to manage these and other inflation risks and has considered various macroeconomic scenarios.
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Arrow Group, which employed more than 2,000 people last year, paid a dividend of €21 million at the end of 2023, up from €10.6 million in 2022. It also paid an interim dividend of €1.8 million during the year, according to the filings.
Founded by brothers John, Michael and Peter Queally, Arrow operates, among other things, cold storage businesses and a dog food processing plant, Irish Dog Foods, in Naas, Co Kildare.
Peter Queally, who also cofounded Dawn Meats, died last August at the age of 83. His brother John remains the largest shareholder in Arrow Group with an almost 14 per cent shareholding, according to Arrow’s most recent annual return.
The remaining shares are held by other family members including Peter’s sons Liam, who serves as managing director of Irish Dog Foods, and Ivor Queally, who runs the family’s meat processing and cold storage business in South Africa.
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