Turnover at Ryanair-linked firm up £3.4m

Brookfield Aviation International, the UK company that is involved in the supply of contract pilots to Ryanair, saw its turnover increase to £131.3 million (€155 million) in the year to the end of January 2013, according to accounts just filed.

The company made a pretax profit of £840,514 and paid a dividend of £305,980 to its two shareholder/directors, Bernard Duffield and David George.

The company's turnover was up just £3.4 million on the previous year's performance and its pretax profit up just £4,000. In 2012 the company paid dividends of £575,200.

Satisfactory
The directors in their report said the company operates in a sector where the profit margins are very low and that they considered the outcome for the year to be satisfactory.

They also said that during the year the company had expanded operations in China and implemented other measures aimed at minimising the risks faced by companies operating in the sector.

The accounts show that the Surrey-based company's turnover came from the provision of pilot services to airlines and that £127.3 million of the £131.3 million turnover came from Europe. The UK market produced turnover of £15,257 and the "rest of the world" £3.97 million.

Employer PRSI
The company provides services to Ryanair, with most of the contracted pilots involved being in turn shareholder/ employees of service companies registered in the Republic and established specifically for the provision of their services to Ryanair.

The structure is designed to shelter the airline from employee obligations and also means it does not have to pay employer PRSI, according to persons with knowledge of the system.

The company’s two directors shared emoluments of £397,390, down from £603,535 the previous year, while the company’s 10 staff shared wages and other benefits totalling £665,070, down from £925,058 the previous year (when the company had the same number of employees).

The company made charitable donations of £12,067 during the year, with the money going to the Brookfield Aviation Foundation, a UK-registered charity that in turn made donations to UK-registered charities.