{"id":318830,"date":"2025-08-05T03:54:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/318830\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T03:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T03:54:14","slug":"sales-flat-but-northern-irelands-big-businesses-see-profits-soar-by-26-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/318830\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales flat – but Northern Ireland\u2019s big businesses see profits soar by 26% \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading companies in the north have seen their profits soar by 26% in the last year, despite their sales being generally flat, according to findings in the latest Ulster Business Top 100 publication.<\/p>\n

Each year, the monthly glossy magazine charts the success stories of Northern Ireland\u2019s largest businesses ranked on turnover.<\/p>\n

The latest edition, published in association with KPMG and which hits desks this week, reveals that turnover remained largely similar to 2024, sitting at a total of \u00a335.6 billion.<\/p>\n

But pre-tax profits in the top 100 firms rose to \u00a31.86 billion from \u00a31.47 billion.<\/p>\n

\"Vodafone<\/a>\"Newry<\/a><\/p>\n

Pilgrim\u2019s Europe, the poultry giant which formerly traded as Moy Park, topped the list this year with turnover of more than \u00a32bn in its most recent trading year, while it also recorded a massive 276% surge in pre-tax profit<\/a>, rising from \u00a318.7m to \u00a370.3m over the period.<\/p>\n

\"MoyPilgrim\u2019s Europe, the poultry giant which formerly traded as Moy Park, had a turnover of more than \u00a32bn in its last trading year <\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has seen an increase in year-on-year profit with profit margin for the Top 100 companies increasing from a margin of 4.1% to a margin of 5.2%, with total profits now sitting at \u00a31.86bn compared to \u00a31.47bn for the corresponding companies in their prior year,\u201d said Jonathan Cushley, who compiled the list.<\/p>\n

Johnny Hanna, partner in charge at KPMG in Northern Ireland, said: \u201cThe release of the Ulster Business Top 100 issue acts as an important benchmark to the corporate year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt holds a mirror up to our largest firms, gives us insight into our most important sectors and takes the temperature of the economy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe growth in profits over the last year is testament to the innovation and tenacity of the Top 100 and bodes well for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWith the added benefit of dual market access to the UK and EU, expectations of a more favourable environment for businesses selling into the US and the potential for a cut in corporation tax in Northern Ireland, the table is set for continued success in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the newcomers to this year\u2019s list include MCMU Holdings Ltd, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging Ltd, and Huhtamaki Foodservice Delta Ltd.<\/p>\n

John Mulgrew, editor of Ulster Business, said: \u201cThis year\u2019s list shows strong performances from many of our leading firms, and in particular, indicates improving margins in some cases, resulting in more substantial pre-tax profits, while sales are essentially flat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s not a race to billion, we now have seven firms cracking that turnover mark, while Pilgrim\u2019s Europe is the only firm here to hit the \u00a32bn sales point.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s also the many other firms making the list which are key to Northern Ireland and, along with our SMEs and micro businesses, remain the engine of our economy here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leading companies in the north have seen their profits soar by 26% in the last year, despite their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[82062,115788,1144,38797,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-318830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-kpmg","9":"tag-moy-park","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-profit","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114974140981521794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}