Profits at Ikea surge in 2022 as business on 'expansion journey' in Ireland
Gordon Deegan
Revenues surged at the expanding Irish arm of furnishing giant, Ikea last year to €216.7 million - or an average of €4.16 million a week - as pre-tax profits increased more than three-fold to €12.88 million.
The directors for Ikea Ireland Ltd state that "our healthy financial results" including a 13.5 per cent increase in revenues rising from €190.89 million to €216.7 million, outperformed the home furnishing market and gained market share representing "our financial stability and resilience amidst great change".
The increase in revenues coincided with pre-tax profits increasing by 242 per cent from €3.76 million to €12.88 million in the 12 months to the end of August.
The firm paid out €3 million in dividends during the year.
The directors state that the firm’s flagship store at Ballymun in Dublin is due to welcome its 40 millionth visitor this year, adding the businessis on "an expansion journey in Ireland".
They said following the success of the opening of two 'Plan & Order' points last year, they are committing to "opening more around the country within the next couple of years".
The firm recently announced the opening of one such point at the Douglas Village Shopping Centre in Cork - the fourth Plan and Order outlet following Drogheda, Naas and the St Stephen’s Green Centre in Dublin.
The directors said the two Plan and Order outlets, which opened up during the 2022 fiscal year at St Stephen's Green Shopping Centre and Naas, "have been a huge success".
In their report, the directors confirm another Plan and Order outlet for Portlaoise. They state that Ikea Ireland "will open its first distribution centre in Ireland this year that will enable quicker fulfilment of Ikea products for customers in Ireland".
The directors state that the business recorded the double-digit revenues growth and healthy net operating profitability "despite the significant increase in costs we faced during the year".
They state that "the impact of the war in Ukraine and the subsequent high inflationary pressure had a significant impact in the global supply chain and in local energy and other costs and as a result "both our operating costs and costs of goods sold increased significantly compared to last year".
The directors state that the firm continued to invest in its people by protecting the living wages "and this was made possible through our ambitious cost transformation programme that enabled us to improve our efficiency and decrease our costs whilst improving our business operations".
The business' operating profits increased by 199 per cent from €4.47 million to €13.38 million and after taking into account net interest payments of €501,248 the firm recorded the pre-tax profit of €12.88 million.
The firm recorded post tax profits of €11.12 million after paying corporation tax of €1.75 million.
Numbers employed by Ikea Ireland last year increased from 699 to 766 as staff costs increased from €17.87m to €21.76 million.
Directors' pay last year declined from €277,763 to €273,522, while the profits also take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.48 million and operating lease charges of €976,606.
Shareholder funds totalled €37.64 million, which included accumulated profits of €32.64 million, while cash funds totalled €962,411.
