The Lufthansa offshoot that recently made more than 400 of its Irish workers redundant made profits of $16 million (€12.5 million) last year, the latest figures show.
Lufthansa Technik closed its aircraft engine overhaul plant in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, this year with the loss of 411 jobs.
Accounts just lodged by its parent, Lufthansa Technik Airmotive Holdings Ireland, show the group had operating profits of $16 million in 2013, about 46 per cent less than the $30 million surplus it generated the previous year.
The company reported a pretax loss for the year of $49.7 million, compared with a gain of $22 million in 2012.
However, the accounts show this was largely due to the $58.3 million cost of shutting Rathcoole and laying off its staff.
Redundancy payments
According to the figures, redundancy payments came to $38 million while other employee costs of the closure came to $9.7 million.
The group decided to close the plant late last year and issued formal redundancy notices to staff shortly before Christmas. The company laid the workers off earlier this year.
Lufthansa Technik’s decision to close the operation followed a month-long consultation process involving workers and their unions.
During that time a possible buyer emerged in a US-based group involving Irishman and former GPA executive Declan Treacy. However, the company said this did not lead to an acceptable offer.
Lufthansa Technik was originally the engineering and maintenance division of German airline Lufthansa, but was spun off from the main group in 1994. Last year the multinational earned profits of €404 million.
Since the closure of the Rathcoole facility, the Irish element of the group now consists of three businesses: Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon, which repairs aircraft engine components; Shannon Aerospace, which maintains aircraft; and an engine and component leasing arm.
In their report, directors Fergus Brennan and Peter Jansen state turnover in the engine division business fell sharply in 2013 which, along with an $11.7 million reduction in the value of stock, left it with an operating loss.
