This article is from page 2 of the 2006-11-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A MOVE by Shannon-based pharmaceutical firm, Schwarz Pharma to shut down production for a three month period last year in response to local concerns over air emissions contributed to an overall loss of €34 million for the company in 2005.
According to accounts filed to the Companies Office, the Germanbased firm suffered an operating loss of €11.4 million following a profit of €5.9 million in 2004.
In March 2005, the company suspended production that could give rise to emissions exceeding the levels in its Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In February of this year at Ennis Circuit Court, the company pleaded guilty to a series of environmental breaches resulting in them being fined €152,350 including costs.
According to a statement accompanying the company’s accounts: “The outgoing year was a year which saw a number of events come together to account for the loss incurred, namely production downtime associated with plant shutdown from March to June of 2005 in order to implement new environmental emissions control systems and a sales reduction from the discontinuance of a number of product lines.
“In addition significant development and launch costs were incurred for a number of new products launched during the year.”
The accounts show that the parent company has contributed €150 million over 2004 and 2005 and that significant investment is needed “to ensure the company has adequate capacity and upgraded infrastructure to manufacture and supply the new products going forward.”
The accounts show that the company’s turnover was down from €42.8 million in 2005 to €35.4 million in 2004 and the cost of sales increased to €38.1 million in 2005 from €31.7 million in 2004.
The overall loss of €34 million is due to €8 million in interest payable and other charges, and €17 million towards a non-operating expense.
The loss of €34 million has resulted in the company’s retained profits of €32 million at the start of 2005 becoming a loss of €2.5 million at year end.
The accounts also show that the numbers employed at Schwarz Pharma reduced from 222 to 180 at the end of 2005 with the staff costs being reduced from €11.6 million to €10.3 million in 2005.
The accounts also show that the value of the company’s intangible assets increased from €377 million from €222 million in 2004.