Monsanto's Irish arm made €18m profit but paid no tax

A DUBLIN-BASED subsidiary of the US Monsanto Group made a profit of €18 million in the year to the end of August 2009, according…

A DUBLIN-BASED subsidiary of the US Monsanto Group made a profit of €18 million in the year to the end of August 2009, according to accounts just filed, but paid no tax.

Monsanto Finance Holdings Ltd, based at the offices of Matheson Ormsby Prentice solicitors on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin, is involved in inter-group financing. The accounts state that the company is tax resident in Bermuda and as such is exempt from all forms of taxation including income, capital gains and withholding tax.

The company’s three directors are solicitors based in Bermuda with the Conyers Dill Pearman firm, which has its headquarters in London.

The three directors also act for other Irish-registered subsidiaries of US-based multinationals.

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The company had financial assets of €49.99 million at year’s end and trade and other debtors of €24 million. The financial asset was a loan due from a related party.

It had net assets of €74 million. The company’s profits arose from the interest it received on the loan to the related party.

The Irish company is a subsidiary of a company based in Switzerland, Monsanto International Sarl.

Colm Keena

Colm Keena

Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent