The Irish subsidiary of Sodexo, the outsourced food services and facilities management group, saw pre-tax profits jump by 745 per cent in the year to the end of August 2015.

Sodexo, which employs more than 1,600 people locally, is the world's second-biggest catering company after Britain's Compass Group.

Newly filed accounts show the company’s Irish unit, Sodexo Ireland Limited, recorded a profit of €2.8 million in 2015, compared to €331,000 a year earlier.

Turnover in the 12 months to the end of August 2015 rose 8.9 per cent to €77.2 million from €70.9 million in the preceding year.

In 2014, the group’s pre-tax profits fell sharply due to staff costs rising by €2.5 million to €35.9 million as employee numbers declined from 1,517 to 1,490. The latest accounts show employee numbers rose again to 1,607 last year with staff costs, including wages and salaries, increasing by €4.1 million to €40 million.

Directors’ emoluments increased from €244,000 to €258,000.

Sodexo Ireland had net assets of €6.6 million at the end of the reporting period, up from €4.4 million a year earlier.

Earlier this year, the head of the company's Irish operations Margot Slattery was included in Out at Work's list of Top 50 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) business leaders , for the second successive year.

The accolade came just a few months after Ms Slattery was included in the Outstanding Top 100 LGBT business leaders, published in association with the Financial Times, also for the second year in a row.

The group's parent was founded by Pierre Bellon in southern, France in 1966. It now employs nearly 419,000 people in 80 countries.