DUBLIN: IKEA last year sold around 2.5 million meatballs at its Dublin store as the firm enjoyed a record year of revenues at its Ballymun outlet. The Swedish furniture giant confirmed that it had three million visitors to its store off Dublin’s M50 in the 12 months to the end of August last year spending a record €152m.
The three million visitors spent an average of €50 each at the store and the revenues of €152m – or almost €3 million a week – represent a 15pc increase on the revenues of €131.9m in the prior year. The three million visitors also represent an increase of 15pc on the 2.6 million that visited the store in 2015. The revenues made from the sale of Ikea’s 2.5m traditional Swedish meatballs or “Kottbullar” in Swedish made up only a small portion of the €152 million in revenues as the public’s love affair with IKEA’s Expedit shelving unit and Lack tables continued. The record revenues however did not translate into higher profits as pre-tax profits decreased by 10pc to €11.84m.
The drop in profit arose from administrative expenses increasing by 30pc going from €29.6m to €38.6m with cost of sales going up from €87.37m to €100.3m. The firm paid a dividend of €11m to its parent firm last year. IKEA employed an additional 110 new co-workers during the year taking the total number of staff to 663. The directors’ report states that they anticipate that the level of activity and profitability in future years will continue to be in line with expectations. Staff costs at Ikea last year increased to €17.2m.
