PRETAX PROFITS at Cork-based SWS Business Process Outsourcing more than halved to €1.08 million in 2006, according to accounts recently filed.

In December of that year the company was acquired as part of the SWS Group in a €110 million takeover, led by private equity firm Ion Equity. The outsourcing unit was subsequently separated from SWS's renewable energy business. Ion Equity now owns 51 per cent of this division with the remainder owned by staff and Anglo Irish Bank. In 2005 SWS Business Process Outsourcing had a pretax profit of €2.154 million.

The fall in profits relates in part to an exceptional item of €439,543 relating to the takeover. According to the accounts it relates to write-offs of "related party balances" with subsidiaries of the South Western Co-Operative Society. The accounts also note that a change in depreciation policy resulted in an additional charge of €665,000, while a contribution toward group costs of €814,000 also affected earnings.

Employment at the Bandon company grew to 254 in 2006 from 187 the year before. Currently the company is understood to employ about 350 staff. The outsourcing division has since expanded into the British market in a bid to increase revenues to €100 million and staff numbers to 1,000 by 2012. It now has an office in Poland to help it fulfil contracts and is looking at opening another international office possibly in India, China or the Philippines.

Clients include Bank of Ireland, Independent News & Media, O2, Kerry Group, Topaz Energy, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, the Department of Agriculture and Food and An Bord Bia.

Representatives of SWS did not return calls seeking comment on the accounts.