Uber generates 41% growth in Irish profits
Pre-tax profits at the Irish arm of ride-sharing taxi firm Uber increased by 41% last year to €860,487.
Newly filed accounts for Uber Centre of Excellence Ltd show that the business generated revenues of €19.65m, representing a yearly increase of 47.5%.
While Uber does not have a licence to operate its taxi service on Irish roads, its Limerick-based operation acts as a major support services hub for the group’s operations across the rest of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Uber companies in countries in those regions pay the Limerick company for support service use.
When setting up in Ireland in 2015, Uber signed a 10-year lease for its Thomas Street facility in Limerick.
Last year was another period of a rapid rise in staff numbers employed at the Uber unit, with 419 employed at the end of the year — up from the 288 people employed at the end of 2017.
Staff costs jumped from €9.1m to €14m.
The transportation network company made a post-tax profit of €625,471 following a corporation tax payment of €235,016.
In 2017, it emerged that the National Transport Authority (NTA) told Uber that a proposal for a pilot scheme in Limerick that would allow private car users to offer their services to passengers through Uber was “undesirable”.
