The Irish subsidiary of US healthcare packaging giant Nelipak paid a dividend of €35 million in its 2024 financial year, but sought up to 40 redundancies in an “operational restructuring program” at its Offaly plant in February.
Nelipak generated more than €78.3 million in turnover from two of its medical packaging sites in the Republic of Ireland, €1.25 million more than in 2023.
Despite this, rising production and administrative costs saw the company’s profits reduce by nearly 29 per cent in the past year. Pretax profits fell from €9.9 million in 2023 to €7 million for the financial year ending in December 2024.
The packaging company is involved in the design and production of custom packaging for medical devices and pharmaceutical products such as blisters packs, surgical procedure trays, pharmaceutical handling trays, and custom-built sealing machines.
The majority of Nelipak’s Irish production is for export, with €17.6 million in revenue coming from domestic sources.
In 2024, Nelipak had €36.3 million in exports to non-European Union companies, with a further €21.6 million from other European countries, excluding the UK, which saw €2.8 million in exports.
US-headquartered Nelipak, which was founded in the Netherlands in 1953, has more than 1,400 employees spread across 11 manufacturing sites.
The company had an average of 261 employees in the Republic in 2024, a slight increase on the previous year’s 256 staff, with the vast majority in production roles. Total staff costs increased to €13.15 million in the past calendar year, from €12.55 million in 2023.
The company acquired Co Galway-based Plasmedics in 1995, before adding plants in Offaly and Derry, following the acquisition of Bemis Healthcare Packaging Europe.
The company began a programme of voluntary redundancies at its production plant in Clara, Co Offaly, at the start of 2025, seeking to eliminate 40 roles as part of a “restructuring programme”.
“In order to align resources at the Nelipak Clara site with current production requirements, we have made the difficult decision to pursue an operational restructuring programme which will result in production staff reductions,” Nelipak said in February.
The company said its Co Offaly site “remains among the largest of Nelipak’s 11 global production sites” and stressed it is committed to “ensuring that the Clara site is well-positioned for continued growth, investment and success in the coming years”.
Nelipak has been contacted for comment.