Workday posts massive surge in profits and turnover

Workday, the HR and financial management software company led in Ireland by former Iona Technologies and Cape Clear co-founder Annrai O'Toole, recorded a 200 per cent rise in profits in Ireland last year on the back of a huge jump in sales.

The company, which employs almost 600 people in Dublin and nearly 7,000 worldwide, established its European headquarters in Ireland in 2008 following its acquisition of Cape Clear Software.

Newly filed accounts for Workday Ltd show pretax profits rose to $10.5 million (€8.92 million) in the 12 months to the end of January 2017 from $3.4 million a year earlier. Turnover surged by nearly 44 per cent, from $237 million to $340 million, as operating profits jumped to $13 million from $5.5 million.

Net assets at the end of January amounted to $67.9 million, up from $36.7 million in the prior year.

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The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, which said headcount rose from 338 people to 545 over the 12 months under review, said staff costs increased to $55.2 million from $33 million. Directors’ remuneration more than trebled to $1.9 million from $525,000.

Analytics applications

Founded by former PeopleSoft founder and chief executive Dave Duffield in 2005, Workday provides financial management, human capital management and analytics applications via the cloud to more than 1,000 organisations worldwide. Customers include Aon, Chiquita, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Netflix and Sanofi.

Workday listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2012 with its shares jumping 83 per cent on debut. The company earlier this year transferred its listing to the Nasdaq.

Accounts for a second Irish-headquartered company, Workday International Ltd, whose principal activity is to acquire, develop and license intellectual property, recorded a $231.2 million pretax loss last year. This compares with a $194 million loss in 2016. While incorporated in Ireland, the unit has been a tax resident in Bermuda since 2012.

The ultimate parent Workday Inc, recorded total revenues of $1.57 billion last year, an increase of 35 per cent on the prior year as subscription revenue jumped 39 per cent to $1.29 billion.