MANUFACTURING giant Caterpillar posted an increased operating profit of £22 million in its Northern Ireland operations in 2022, despite continuing to lay off staff.
The US multinational also reported a whopping 29 per cent rise in its sales from just under £400 million to £518.5 million.
Yet over the year it shed nearly 150 more workers and reduced its wages bill from £51.8m to £43.4m (in 2021 Caterpillar made 425 staff redundant).
And whereas just a decade ago the company had 3,000 workers on its books, its total payroll has now shrunk to 938, according to accounts filed at Companies House.
After a torrid last few years in Northern Ireland, where it has produced huge trading losses, the accounts show Caterpillar largely back on an even keel.
It attributed the big jump in revenues to strong growth in both the component supply business and in the distribution of electric power generation sets, which are manufactured under the FG Wilson brand.
The 2021 financial statements had included a £13.7m impairment release, which compared to just £3.3m in the 2022 accounts.
The directors said the underlying profitability, excluding this item, increased due to the twin effects of increased volume and the outworking of the electric power footprint reconfiguration.
But in a sign of the changing direction of the business, Caterpillar said just 462 gensets were made in 2022 compared to 2,884 in 2021, which in itself was about a quarter of the 10,000 sets it had been producing four years earlier.
The directors added: "In 2022 the company expects to see solid growth across its business streams, driven by end-suer demand, particularly in electric power modules."
During the course of 2022 Caterpillar was hit by a lengthy pay dispute which started in April before being resolved in July.
Caterpillar operates two sites in Northern Ireland. The facility in Larne is home to the electric power business where the team designs and manufactures Cat power solutions for key business sectors including data centres, construction, mining, healthcare, utility and other industries.
Its Belfast facility produces major component sub-assemblies including axles and transmissions for Cat articulated trucks as well as other oil and gas applications.
Its ultimate parent company is Caterpillar Inc in Texas, which in 2022 had global revenues of $59.4 billion (£48.6 billion).
