Western Union profits slump 25pc despite revenue rise

PRE-TAX profits at the Dublin-based unit of money transfer firm Western Union last year decreased by 25.55pc to $25m (€21.57m) in spite of an increase in revenues.

New accounts filed by Western Union Payment Servic- es Ireland Ltd show that the company recorded the drop in profits as revenues increased by 2.5pc, going from $761.36m to $781.3m in the 12 months to the end of December last.

Numbers employed at the Clonskeagh offices of the company last year decreased marginally going from 426 to 422. The staff costs of $54m included a restructuring charge of $1.55m. The company last year paid out $20m in dividends and this followed a $20m dividend payout in 2016. According to the directors’ report, money transfer revenues increased by 2pc year-on-year primarily as a result of a 5pc increase in transaction volumes. The report adds: “Locations grew by 1pc net of 6,000 agent deregistrations in the year. The revenue per transaction has declined from $19.29 to $18.75.”

It recorded 40,827,000 transactions in 2017 compared to 38,724,000 in 2016 – an increase of 18,652 or 2pc. At the end of December last, shareholder funds stood at $78.34m that included $69.3m in accumulated profits. The firm’s cash decreased sharply from $22.9m to $11.22m. A breakdown of the numbers employed show that the largest number are employed in compliance and sales (136 in each area), followed by 39 in finance; 32 in marketing; 25 in legal; 22 in human resources; 18 in operations and 14 in other. Staff costs increased from $52.77m to $54.12m.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of $1.758m. Directors’ remuneration declined from $1.4m to $1.22m.