These are the firms flying and falling on the list of Ireland's biggest companies
Building group CRH led the pack, while Ryanair jumped up the ranks.
BUILDING MATERIALS GIANT CRH has retained the title of Ireland’s biggest company, although med-tech group Medtronic is breathing down its neck.
According to The Irish Times Top 1000 Companies 2017 list, CRH is the largest in the country by turnover after its revenue rose from just under €24 billion to €27 billion.
Medtronic, which is largely a US-run company, became an ‘Irish’ firm when it acquired Dublin-domiciled surgical supplies group Covidien in a high-profile €50 billion ‘inversion’ deal two years ago.
The company is fast closing in on CRH, reporting turnover of €26.6 billion. Internet giant Google moved up one space to third on €22.6 billion.
Microsoft, which topped the list two years ago and was in second place in 2016, moved down two spots to fourth place with sales of €19.5 billion, while power management company Eaton Corp was fifth.
Services conglomerate DCC, pharma group Allergan, industrial group Ingersoll-Rand, Dell Ireland and tech giant Oracle – which replaces Apple Ireland – round out the top 10.
All figures relate to the companies’ most recently available accounts and their revenues and profits declared in Ireland.
More money
Significant movers on the list included Facebook and Ryanair, which both moved up five places to 13 and 15 respectively.
The entry level for this year’s 1000-company survey rose to a minimum turnover of €18 million, up from €17 million last year, which the list’s researchers said indicated that the scale of business in Ireland is growing.
In addition to this, the vast majority of the top-1,000 companies are getting more profitable. On a net basis, the profits of Ireland’s leading companies rose to €34 billion, up from €28 billion in 2016.
Medtronic added almost €300 million to its profits in 2017, which means it continues to hold the title of Ireland’s most profitable company with a massive €4.1 billion net return.
This was comfortably ahead of the Central Bank in second place on €2.3 billion and Eaton Corp on €1.9 billion.
Oil exploration company Tullow Oil reported the biggest loss, €833 million, while Permanent TSB (with losses of €226 million), Argos (€153 million) and Roche (€133 million) also feature on that list.
Clouds on the horizon
Editor of the Irish Times Top 1,000 Fiona Reddan warned that there may be clouds on the horizon, “in the form of the ultimate outcome of Brexit negotiations and the potential outcome of lower corporate tax rates in the US and new global tax rules”.
Reddan also noted that there was a drop in the number of women leading Top 1,000 companies.
“The last time we conducted this survey in 2014 women held the top jobs in 11% of Top 1,000 companies, so that was disappointing,” she said.
“However the 10% figure is well ahead of the leading S&P and FTSE companies where the percentage of women leaders is 5.8% and 7% respectively.”
