Pre-tax profits at Irish arm of Mastercard rise 36 per cent to €75.86 million
Gordon Deegan
Pre-tax profits at the main Irish unit of Mastercard last year increased by 36 per cent to €75.86 million.
New accounts filed by Mastercard Ireland Ltd show that the company recorded the profit increase as revenues rose by 24 per cent from €664.59 million to €821.49 million in the 12 months to the end of December last.
The pre-tax profit of €75.86 million followed a pre-tax profit of €55.64 million in 2023.
The company is engaged in the research and development of software payment technology for the Mastercard group.
The accounts state that “the company intends to continue to grow its business and expand its operations in Ireland”.
Numbers employed last year increased by 178 from 1,411 to 1,589 and staff costs increased from €174.35 million to €202.89 million.
Numbers employed in R&D last year rose from 1,199 to 1,351 as numbers engaged in administration rose from 212 to 238.
The company last year paid out a dividend of €135 million and this followed a dividend of €40 million in 2023.
The company recorded a post tax profit of €64.2 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €11.65 million.
The directors state that “the increase in turnover is due to the increase in services provided to other group companies and services revenue”.
They state that “other administrative expenses increased due to increased headcount and an increase in charges from other group companies”.
They state that the company expects to continue to grow the services provided to other group companies.
The directors state that they “continue to monitor risk and develop strategies in response to changing macroeconomic and geopolitical factors which includes the impact of recent trade policy developments, including US tariffs, that have led to global market volatility and economic uncertainty”.
The directors state that they do not currently expect a material impact on the company but are closely monitoring developments on an on-going basis.
The company’s staff costs include €162.3 million in salaries and €8.77 million in share option expenses.
Directors’ emoluments remained at €1.7 million through directors’ gain on the exercise of share options rose from €420,452 to €2.05 million.
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €16.8 million and foreign exchange losses of €2.36 million.
At the end of December 2024, the company had shareholder funds of €121.15m which included accumulated profits of €88.67m.
Cash funds decreased from €157.07 million to €33.26 million.
Globally in 2024, Mastercard Inc's revenues increased from $25.09 billion to $28.16 billion as its pre-tax profits rose by 12 per cent from $13.63 billion to $15.15 billion.
