The IFSC unit of the US-owned fund administration group PFPC increased its fee income by 27 per cent to $56.59 million (€44.19 million) last year, the period in which it moved to expand the business. A number of senior staff left the company earlier this year after a disagreement about strategy.

Accounts newly filed for PFPC International show that the Dublin-registered company made a pretax profit of $5.69 million in 2005, up from $5.26 million in 2004. The accounts also show that the company paid a $4 million dividend to its parent, PNC Financial Services Group.

Fee income comprised $47.78 million from fund administration services, up from $37.38 million, and transfer agency income of $8.81 million, up from $7.13 million. The company also received $2.13 million in "out-of-pocket revenue", $277,169 in bank interest and "other income" of $311,460.

PFPC moved in May last year to expand its Irish operation when it promised to create up to 490 new jobs over five years at its existing office in Wexford and in a new administration centre in Navan, Co Meath. The group's expansion is being backed with grant aid from IDA Ireland, the State inward investment body.

It emerged in February that six of the most senior staff at the company had resigned after a dispute that centred on whether the company should expand its activities as an administrator of hedge funds, a sector that is booming in the IFSC. Such an expansion was not favoured by the firm's parent. The parent said at the time that the group remained committed to its international business.

Calls to PFPC in Dublin yesterday were not returned. In business here since 1994, the company's accounts show that it had retained profits of $16.98 million at the end of 2005. "The directors expect the company to continue to develop and strengthen its business over the coming year," said the directors' report with the accounts.

The company employed an average of 497 people last year and it paid out $27.16 million in staff costs. The company paid corporation taxes of $830,720, up from $483,363 a year earlier. In common with other IFSC companies, its tax rate rose to 12.5 per cent from the start of this year following the unwinding of the special tax incentive for companies in the financial services sector.

The company made a provision of $1.39 million in respect of operational losses "arising in the normal course of business that were unsettled at year-end". Shareholders' funds at year-end rose to $19.41 million from $18.45 million at the end of 2004.