*Element Six.
PRE-TAX profits at industrial diamond manufacturer, Element Six last year decreased by 18 percent to $12.55m (€11.3m).
New accounts filed by the Shannon based company show that profits decreased after revenues declined by 12pc from $218.8m to $191.5m.
The directors for Element Six Ltd state that macro headwinds particularly in the oil and gas and global automotive sector resulted in the 12 percent decline in revenues in 2023.
The directors state “to help mitigate these challenges, the directors have continued to focus on tight cost control and on operational excellence to help drive improvement in yield and in production processes”.
They state that “various operational and working capital initiatives to help improve the underlying performance of the business”.
They add that the Element Six group continues to invest in Research and Development (R&D) in new products and technologies and it is expected that these will yield increased market share and market growth in an ever-increasing environment.
The company’s R&D spend last year totalled $8.63m compared to $8.2m in 20222.
The company last year paid out $10m in dividends which was down from the $30m dividend payout in 2022.
Last year the company received dividends of $6.55m and this was down sharply on the $15.76m dividends received in 2022.
The markets mainly served by the company’s industrial diamond are the US, China, Japan and all countries in the EU.
The directors state that the main risks and uncertainties facing the company include low-cost competition from Eastern European and Asian suppliers, commodity price fluctuations impacting consumer demand and fluctuating currency exchange rates.
Last year, the company recorded an operating profit of $4.32m and this followed an operating loss of $1.05m in 2022, a positive swing of $5.37m.
The dividend of $6.55m along with net interest payments received of $1.66m resulted in the pre-tax profit of $12.55m.
Numbers employed at the company last year declined from 456 to 431 that included 188 contractors.
The firm’s 243 directly employed workforce also included 121 in production, 70 in finance and administration, 30 in engineering and 22 in sales and marketing.
The company’s staff costs last year declined from $35.98m to $34.32m. The profits last year also take account of non-cash depreciation costs of $6.05m and non-cash write downs of $1.69m.
Pay to directors declined from $1.3m to $1.2m. In a post balance sheet event in May a new revolving credit facility was agreed for the group for $135m.
At the end of December last, shareholder funds totalled $124.74m that included accumulated profits of $106m.
