ONLINE RETAILER Amazon’s Irish operations last year recorded a 16 per cent increase in turnover to €41 million, with its main company increasing its pretax profits by 11 per cent.
According to filings to the Companies Office by Amazon’s two Irish subsidiaries, their combined turnover was € 41.4 million.
Amazon is one of the largest online retailers in the world and the accounts show that Dublin-based Amazon Data Services Ltd’s pretax profits increased by 11 per cent from € 828,866 to € 922,372 to the end of 2008 after its revenues increased by 19 per cent from €26.4 million to €31.1 million.
The company operates five data hub facilities in Dublin and at the end of 2008 employed 71 people – an increase of 12 on the 2007 figure.
Accounts for the company’s European Systems Network Operations Centre show that the company’s operating profit increased by 23 per cent, to €1.54 million from €1.25 million.
The accounts show that the company had accumulated profits of €1.8 million that were part of shareholder funds totalling €5.3 million. The company’s staff costs increased from €4.4 million to €5.8 million in 2008.
Amazon is among a number of US-owned online companies including Google, eBay, Yahoo! and, more recently, Facebook to have established in Ireland.
A separate Amazon Irish subsidiary, Amazon CS Ireland Ltd, operates a multilingual customer services centre in Cork which at the end of 2008 employed 207 people – an increase of 42 on 2007.
Established in 2006, the centre at Cork airport business park provides support to customers using the Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr websites and in 2008 increased its turnover by 13 per cent from €9 million to €10.2 million. The accounts, however, show that the company’s sustained a pretax loss of €136,197 in 2008 after securing a pretax profit of €35,864 in 2007.
The company’s shareholder funds were €3.5 million with staff costs increasing from €5 million to €6.7 million.
No dividend was paid by either company during 2008.
Based in Seattle, Washington, Amazon Inc was established by Jezz Bezos in 1994.
