Building firm CRH has been kicked off its perch as Ireland's biggest company
Tech giant Apple made a meteoric rise up the leaderboard of the country’s largest businesses.
BUILDING SUPPLIES FIRM CRH has lost its title as Ireland’s largest company to one of the world’s biggest tech giants.
According to The Irish Times Top 1000 Companies 2018 table, Apple has claimed the top position and is now the largest company in the Republic.
The tech giant earned the title after a European Commission investigation showed that the firm funnels the majority of its €119 billion sales outside of the US through Ireland.
The disclosure of its sales was made during the commission’s investigation of Apple’s tax affairs, which resulted in Ireland being ordered to recover €13 billion in unpaid taxes.
The funneling of this turnover through Ireland meant Apple comfortably overtook CRH, which is Republic’s leading indigenous company with revenues of €27.5 billion, on the leaderboard.
Med-tech group Medtronic was also bumped one place down to third as a result of Apple’s massive rise up the table.
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Elsewhere on the leaderboard, one new entrant into the top 10 was Facebook. The social media giant jumped from 13th place to ninth after its revenues shot up by 60%.
Google dropped one place to fourth and Microsoft, which previously led the survey, placed fifth.
Aside from CRH, services conglomerate DCC is the only other indigenous Irish company in the top 10.
Flying high, and low
One Irish-founded firm flying up the leaderboard is games developer and services firm Keyword Studios.
The Dublin-based operation, valued at $1 billion, is one of the new names in the 1,000 company list this year. It entered in at 839th position following turnover of €26 million.
Hospitality firm Press Up, led by Paddy McKillen Jnr, is another new entrant at 704th. The company’s portfolio of properties include The Dean Hotel and Stella Cinema.
But one firm falling down the table is Tullow Oil, which was in the red for the fourth year in a row and reported losses of €243 million.
After its turnaround in 2014, Ulster Bank also slipped on the list last year after reporting an operating loss of €151 million.
The Irish Times Top 1000 editor Fiona Reddan noted that other banks made a waves in the list, with both AIB (€1.3 billion) and Bank of Ireland (€852 million) reporting healthy profits.
