Symantec’s Irish firm triples profit on IP flows
Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of online security firm, Symantec, which also owns Norton, more than tripled to €57.48m last year, boosted by the transfers of intellectual property (IP) into Ireland.
Symantec established a base in Ireland 28 years ago and operates a major security operations facility in Blanchardstown, outside Dublin.
New figures show that Symantec Ltd posted the sharp rise in pre-tax profits, despite an 8% drop in revenues, to €1.2bn, in the 12 months to the end of March.
That’s because of royalty payments the Irish company received, following the acquisition of intellectual property by its parent, from the purchase of Blue Coat.
Symantec bought Blue Coat for $4.6bn (€3.68bn) in 2016. The accounts show that the profit takes account of non-cash goodwill and intellectual property amortisation costs of €207m, and non-cash depreciation costs of €4m.
Irish staff numbers fell from 893 to 699, and staff costs dropped from €73.7m to €63.6m. Some 370 people work in sales, marketing, and administration, while 329 work in development and support.
The company paid a dividend to its parent of €393m. The company’s spend on research and development ran out at €18m.
The accounts show that pay for the firm’s directors, last year, increased from €579,000 to €586,000.
The firm had accumulated profits of €425m last year and had shareholder funds totalling €2bn. The funds increased sharply from €298m to €388m.
Cost of sales decreased from €768 to €759m, with distribution costs decreasing from €340m to €235m.
The company’s administrative expenses decreased from €196m to €162m.
