Cargo revenues at the Irish arm of air freight and aircraft handling firm Swissport have remained strong during the pandemic.
That is according to new accounts for the Dublin-headquartered company where the directors state that while Covid-19 has impacted significantly on its business, the company will weather the economic strain put upon it and will be in a position to respond positively to the anticipated gradual restoration of trading volumes.
The directors state that with the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines and global vaccine passports, the company has traded through the worst of the pandemic.
The company here operates from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, and new accounts for Swissport Ireland Ltd show the company's pre-tax profits increased by 45 per cent to €2.97 million in 2019.
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The increase in pre-tax profits came as revenues dipped by 2.6 per cent from €48.93 million to €47.65 million.
On the Covid-19 impact, a note attached to the accounts states that the company’s ground handling revenue has declined but cargo revenues have remained strong.
The directors state that the company benefits from long-term contracts with a number of airlines and suppliers across different geographical areas.
They say that in response to Covid-19 it has reduced headcount, adjusted capacity to the current demand environment and also availed of Government support through the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS).
Numbers employed by Swissport Ireland reduced from 813 to 794 in 2019, and staff costs reduced marginally from €31.79 million to €31 million.
Ground handling
A breakdown of revenues for 2019 show that €37.7 million was generated from ground handling and €9.9 million from cargo.
The profit for 2019 takes account of lease rental costs of €2.2 million and non-cash depreciation costs of €1.4 million. The company recorded post-tax profits of €2.4 million after paying corporation tax of €482,000. Accumulated profits at the company last year totalled €11.78 million.
A note attached to the accounts states that in a post-balance sheet event the ownership of the Swissport group was transferred on December 21st, 2020. from the Chinese-based HNA Group to a group of established global financial advisers led by the former senior secured lenders of Swissport.
