Novartis firm posted sales of €112m
Revenues at the main Ringaskiddy-based unit of pharma giant Novartis rose 3.5% to over €112.1m last year.
However, an increase in costs saw pre-tax profits at Novartis Ringaskiddy Ltd declining by 2%, to €16.7m.
Last month, Novartis said it would shed 320 jobs, more than half the workforce, at the Cork campus over the next three years.
Novartis said that it would make 240 redundancies at the company’s Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) plant and 80 jobs would go at its Global Service Centre.
Novartis Ringaskiddy Ltd’s chief executive Shane Relihan broke the news to the Cork workers last month, saying the API plant job losses stemmed from a decision to consolidate manufacturing operations at the Cork campus.
Staff numbers at the Novartis Ringaskiddy Ltd firm had fallen to 388 and staff costs increased to €45.5m.
The directors, who signed off on the accounts in May, said in the accounts that Novartis Ringaskiddy delivered a solid operational performance in 2018.
The directors said the rise in revenues last year was driven by changes in the product portfolio including the restart of Diovan production.
On the company’s future developments, the directors had said that Novartis Ringaskiddy was strategically important to the Novartis group as it manufactures the active ingredient for a large number of top-selling brands in the Novartis portfolio.
“Future development will depend on the success of the group’s overall strategy, specifically in the development and marketing of new products,” the directors said.
The profits at Novartis Ringaskiddy last year take account of non-cash deprecation costs of €19m.
The news of the job losses was relayed last month to staff who work at the two Novartis groups based on its Ringaskiddy campus.
About 350 people work in its manufacturing operation with a further 180 staff based at a global service centre on the same site.
The redundancies will affect both operations with a total of 240 jobs to be axed from the manufacturing site by 2022. A total of 80 jobs will be shed at the global service centre by 2021, with the first redundancies getting underway next year.
