Amazon, which employs more than 1,800 people in Ireland, experienced mixed trading at its two key Irish subsidiaries last year, recently filed accounts show.
The company's Cork-based customer services subsidiary, Amazon CS Ireland Limited, saw pretax losses more than double for the 12 months ending December 2016.
It recorded a loss on ordinary activities before taxation rise to €2.96 million in 2016, as against a €1.4 million loss in the prior year. After adjusting for a tax charge of €995,000 a deficit of €3.96 million was charged to shareholder’s funds.
Turnover rose to €98.2 million last year, having risen 58 per cent a year earlier from €57.3 million to €90.8 million. The division recorded an operating loss of €2.96 million, versus a €1.45 million loss in 2015.
The unit, which increased headcount from 839 to 904 last year, reported staff-related costs of €39 million, up from €35 million the previous year.
Share-based awards for employees received during 2016 rose to €4.96 million from €4.26 million.
Web-hosting services
Separately, Amazon Data Services Ireland Limited, which provides web-hosting services to group companies, recorded a pretax profit of €26 million last year, virtually unchanged from a year earlier. After adjusting for a €421,000 tax credit, a profit of €26.5 million was made available for dividends and retention.
Turnover for the company, which operates several data hub services in the Dublin area, rose to €784 million, after jumping 45 per cent to €639 million from €440 million a year earlier.
The subsidiary, which employed 756 people last year, saw staff costs rise to €79.7 million from €74 million.
Share-based awards for employees increased to €9.7 million from €8.4 million a year earlier, the accounts show.
The unit’s parent, which set up in Ireland in 2004, last year announced plans to create 500 high-tech jobs at its Dublin hub due to rapid growth for its Amazon Web Services, which covers cloud computing products.
