Groupon Ireland Happy to Return Profit in the Face of Adversity

Discount hub Groupon may be facing some tough economical times as a company, but this doesn’t apply for all of its businesses. 

It’s emerged that the company’s Ireland business, headquartered in the capital of Dublin, is increasing its profit while recruiting extra staff to ensure 2016 brings more of the same. 

A report from independent.ie points to a pre-tax gain of €10.26 million for the year ending December 2014 – a far cry from the pre-tax loss of €62 million a year earlier. 

Revenue increased by 44% between these two periods as Groupon Ireland generated €108.2 million worth of business in 2014.

The strong performance has led to an increase in the Dublin office’s headcount during its return to growth, from 31 to 72. 

Groupon in general is downsizing, though, as an announcement in September of last year saw cuts to 1,100 jobs at the firm as a result of failure to return profit in a number of markets. Its operations in several countries, including Thailand, Morocco and Uruguay, were later scrapped.

A “dark time”

The adage of ‘spending money to make money’ was present in Groupon Ireland’s rise back up to the top as €12.1 million was ploughed into the division to turn things around. 

Despite failing to make up the loss that incurred over 2013, another strong set of reports for 2015 and 2016 could bode well for the future.

Groupon as a business struggled to break even during the Ireland division’s stellar year – a loss of $73 million being made despite revenue increasing from $1.6 billion to $3.1 billion between 2011 – 2014.

Plenty of eyes are on the business this year as it looks to recover from a torrid 12 months. Rich Williams had only been two months into his stint at CEO before he felt the need to ease worries about him taking over from Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkosky during a “dark time”.

A large amount of Groupon’s success rests on its performance in the US, where it started out in 2008. However, if the company can succeed in some of its smaller operations, there may be a strong chance of a change in fortunes for 2016.