Edelman Ireland shows healthy rise in revenues

PR firm’s accounts include Coca-Cola, Ryanair, LinkedIn and National Lottery

Joe Carmody, managing director of Edelman Ireland, and former British ambassador to Ireland Dominick Chilcott.  The company recorded profits of €218,993 for the 12 months to the end of June 2016. Photograph: Naoise Culhane
Joe Carmody, managing director of Edelman Ireland, and former British ambassador to Ireland Dominick Chilcott. The company recorded profits of €218,993 for the 12 months to the end of June 2016. Photograph: Naoise Culhane

The Irish arm of Edelman, the world's largest public relations firm, with more than 5,000 employees in 65 cities, reported a healthy rise in revenues last year.

The company, which is led by Joe Carmody and whose clients include Irish Distillers, LinkedIn, Ryanair, SSE Airtricity and the National Lottery, last month announced a number of appointments on the back of an increase in new-business wins.

According to abridged accounts filed for Daniel J Edelman Ireland Limited with the Companies Registration Office recently, the company recorded profits of €218,993 for the 12 months to the end of June 2016. This brings accumulated profits to €730,949 from €511,956 a year earlier.

Turnover rose 38 per cent to €4.24 million from €3.71 million a year earlier at the PR firm, which has recently announced a number of new accounts, including Coca-Cola, Danone and Novartis.

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Headcount

The company employed 22 people, including directors, at the end of June 2016, with staff costs rising to €1.4 million from €1.2 million. Edelman has continued to increase headcount in 2017 and currently employs 32 people in Ireland.

“We’ve a good blend of domestic and international work and obviously as part of the world’s largest agency there are huge benefits for us in that,” said Mr Carmody.

“The business is being driven by investments we are making in insight and creative, which reflects where the communications industry is going. Health is also a strong part of the business currently.”

“All in all, it has been a satisfactory year and we’re seeing good momentum in 2017 as well,” he added.

The company's immediate parent is Edelman Europe Holdings, which is incorporated in the Netherlands. Its ultimate parent, which was established by Dan Edelman in 1952, posted is lowest growth in seven years in 2016 as revenues rose to $875 million from $854 million.

Purchases

Sales and purchases with other Edelman companies worldwide were down slightly last year to €46,999, while purchases climbed to €636,630 from €410,759.

Separately, abridged accounts just filed for Q4 PR, whose clients include Bank of Ireland, Dell-EMC, Just Eat, Microsoft, MyTaxi, Tesco Ireland and VHI, also reported an increase in profits last year.

The company, whose directors are Jackie Gallagher, Gerald O'Sullivan, Martin Mackin and Angie Kinnane, reported accumulated profits of €1.87 million for the 12 months to the end of June last, up from €1.85 million a year earlier.

Directors and key account management personnel shared €2.9 million in remuneration, which includes €285,000 in pension contributions. This is down from €3.08 million a year earlier.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist