Data storage specialist Seagate Technology’s Derry-based operation saw its profit before tax surge by 63% in a year where it cut its workforce by more than 300 people.
The latest annual accounts for the US-owned hard disk manufacturer show its Irish business recorded a 20% increase in turnover to $198.5m (£160m) for the year to June 28 2024, with the company crediting increased demand for read-write heads in the data storage industry.
It left Seagate Technology (Ireland) with a pre-tax profit of $26.7m (£21.6m) over the same period, around £13m (62.7%) more than in 2023.
The annual accounts show the Derry-based manufacturer cut its wage bill by $9.1m (£7.4m) to $79.4m (£64m) last year, largely the result of a mass redundancy programme.
Seagate initially sought around 100 redundancies from the Springtown factory in May 2023, as part of a wider restructuring across its global organisation.
It’s understood three times as many workers successfully applied for the voluntary scheme.
The latest annual report, published by Companies House, show Seagate had 1,310 staff at the end of June last year, a reduction of 329 on 2023.
It confirmed that Seagate absorbed most of the costs associated with the redundancy programme (around £14m) in 2023.
Just $182,000 (£146,000) in restructuring costs were included in the 2024 accounts.
While the latest accounts state that the directors of Seagate Technology (Ireland) did not recommend the payment of a dividend for the trading period, the report revealed a distribution of $100m in retained profits was made to its parent company last September, which the report states, was settled by means of a reduction of a loan to its parent entity.
The same report suggests Seagate significantly reduced its spend on research and development last year.
R&D expenditure fell by almost 30% (£27m) from $33.7m to $23.8m (£19m).
Although registered as a business in the Cayman Islands, Seagate Technology (Ireland) faced a UK tax bill of £4.8m in 2024, more than double its £2m tax bill from 2023.
The accounts for the Irish business come just three weeks after the parent group announced a strong end to the 2024 calendar year.
Group revenue for the quarter ended December 27 2024 came in at $2.325 billion (£1.87bn), a 50% improvement on the same quarter 12 months earlier.
Seagate’s chief executive Dave Mosley said “Seagate is in a great position to deliver profitable growth in fiscal 2025”.
