Multinationals: An Irish Perspective Business in Ireland 2019

Multinationals: An Irish Perspective

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Multinationals play an important role in the economy of many countries. Increasingly, multinationals create a physical presence in several countries around the world in order to maximise their global earnings.

This chapter presents statistics on the activities of the affiliates of Irish multinationals abroad and the contribution made by the affiliates of foreign multinationals in Ireland. See Tables 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 at the end of this section for more detail on the data in the graphs.

Please Note: There is a discontinuity in the data series for foreign-owned multinationals in Ireland for 2018. This is due to a change in CSO procedures and not a year-on-year change. See information note on the 'Foreign-owned multinationals in Ireland' section below.

Key statistics

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Note: Figure 7.12 was updated on 17/11/2021 as the one originally published related to Figure 6.5 from the previous chapter.

Figure 7.1 Employment in Irish affiliates abroad, 2019

Europe, Asia and America each accounted for approximately a third of the total persons engaged in Irish multinationals abroad by continent
Persons engaged in the remaining regions amounted to 2.5%

Figure 7.2 Irish MNEs abroad and foreign MNEs in Ireland, 2019

Figure 7.2 Irish MNEs abroad and foreign MNEs in Ireland, 2019

‌In 2019, Irish multinationals had 1,168,733 persons engaged in foreign affiliates and generated turnover of €255.7 billion
Foreign multinationals had 437,202 persons engaged in affiliates in Ireland and generated €547.4 billion in turnover

Irish-owned multinationals abroad

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In 2019, Irish multinationals abroad had turnover of €255.7bn
The US and UK affiliates accounted for 56.6% of all turnover

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Turnover
Netherlands	2.5
United Kingdom	16.7
United States	39.9
Germany	4.1
France	4
Other countries	32.8

There were 1,168,733 persons engaged in Irish multinationals abroad in 2019
One third (33.2%) of all persons engaged in Irish multinationals abroad were based in the US and the UK

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Persons engaged
Netherlands	1.4
United Kingdom	10.7
United States	22.5
Germany	2.9
France	2.5
Other countries	60

	Persons engaged
United States	263009
United Kingdom	125476
China	38637
Germany	34324
Brazil	29900
France	28638
Italy	26888
Spain	26561
Canada	21103
Japan	21050
Poland	20967
Netherlands	16578

Along with the US and UK, there were significant numbers of persons engaged in Irish owned foreign affiliates across the globe, with 38,637 persons engaged in China and almost 30,000 in Brazil

X-axis label	Turnover
United States	101.9
United Kingdom	42.7
Germany	10.6
France	10.3
Japan	7.3
Netherlands	6.3
Canada	6.2
Spain	5.4
China	5
Italy	5
Poland	3.5
Brazil	3.1

In 2019, Irish owned enterprises in the US and the UK generated turnover of €101.9 billion and €42.7 billion respectively
Irish owned enterprises in Germany generated turnover of €10.6 billion while Irish owned enterprises in France generated turnover of €10.3 billion

Services was the dominant sector for employment in Irish affiliates abroad in 2019 accounting for 58.7% of total persons engaged
Manufacturing affiliates accounted for 23.9% of persons engaged compared with 15.1% for Distribution
Other sectors employed 2.3% of total persons engaged

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Persons engaged
Manufacturing	23.9
Other	2.3
Distribution	15.1
Services	58.7

Most turnover for Irish affiliates abroad came from the Services and Distribution sectors with 35.1% and 29.4% respectively
The Manufacturing sector accounted for 27.3% of turnover in all Irish-owned foreign affiliates
Other sectors were responsible for just over 8% of total turnover

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Turnover
Manufacturing	27.3
Other	8.2
Distribution	29.4
Services	35.1

7.1 Turnover and number of persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates, 2019

7.2 Turnover and number of persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by sector, 2019

Foreign-owned multinationals in Ireland

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The Financial and Insurance sector is excluded from this section. Accordingly, all the measures below relate to the non-financial Business Economy only (which encompasses the broad sectors of Industry, Services, Distribution and Construction).

	2018	2019
Number of enterprises	2.2	2.4
Persons engaged	25.7	25.5
Turnover	65.2	67.3
GVA	66.2	69.2

In 2019, foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 69.2% of total gross value added (GVA) in the Irish non-financial Business Economy, compared to 66.2% in 2018. These enterprises accounted for 67.3% of total turnover in 2019
Despite large contributions to GVA and turnover, foreign-owned enterprises accounted for just 2.4% of the total number of enterprises in the Irish Business Economy in 2019
Foreign-owned enterprises accounted for over one quarter (25.5%) of persons engaged in the Irish Business Economy in 2019

	2018	2019
Number of enterprises	4.7	4.7
Persons engaged	44.1	45.3
Turnover	84.1	85.4
GVA	88.6	87.9

The Industry sector was dominated by foreign-owned enterprises in 2019, with 87.9% of GVA and 85.4% of turnover, the bulk of which came from enterprises that were owned outside the EU
There were 875 foreign-owned enterprises in the Industrial sector, which represented just 4.7% of all enterprises in the Industrial sector but accounted for 45.3% of persons engaged

	2018	2019
Number of enterprises	3.1	3.1
Persons engaged	28.3	28.9
Turnover	49	50.8
GVA	45.4	54.2

In the Distribution sector, which includes Retail & Wholesale Trade, 1,436 or 3.1% of all enterprises were foreign-owned in 2019
These foreign-owned enterprises employed 28.9% of all persons engaged in this sector and contributed 54.2% of total GVA and 50.8% of turnover

	2018	2019
Number of enterprises	2.1	2.4
Persons engaged	22.1	21.5
Turnover	63.4	66.7
GVA	51.8	58.3

Note: Figure 7.12 was updated on 17/11/2021 as the one originally published related to Figure 6.5 from the previous chapter.

Just 2.4% of all Services enterprises in Ireland in 2019 were foreign-owned but they employed 21.5% of persons engaged in the sector
These foreign-owned enterprises in the Services sector accounted for 66.7% of total turnover and 58.3% of total GVA
EU-owned Services enterprises accounted for 49.6% of all foreign-owned enterprises and 42.3% of persons engaged, while 88.1% of turnover and 87.2% of GVA came from enterprises owned outside the EU

	Gross Value Added
IRELAND	66.7
Hungary	47.4
Slovakia	47
Romania	44.8
Luxembourg	43.9
Czechia	42.8
Bulgaria	34.1
Latvia	32.5
Malta	32.5
Poland	30.9
Netherlands	30.1
Croatia	29.8
Lithuania	28.7
Austria	28
Slovenia	28
Sweden	26.9
Belgium	26.5
Estonia	26.2
Portugal	24.5
EU27	23.8
Finland	23.7
Spain	22.3
Denmark	20.9
Germany	18.5
Greece	18.2
France	16.9
Italy	16.1
Cyprus	13.2

In 2018, Ireland ranked highest in the EU27 for gross value added (GVA) contributions from foreign-owned enterprises to the overall non-financial economy with 66.7% of total GVA
This compares to the EU27 average of 23.8% for 2018
Other high-ranking countries included Hungary (47.4%), Slovakia (47.0%) and Romania (44.8%)

7.3 Structural Business Statistics by sector and nationality of ownership, 2019

Table 7.1 Turnover and number of persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates, 2019
	Turnover	Persons engaged
	€ millions	Number
United States	101,903	263,009
United Kingdom	42,730	125,476
Other countries	111,053	780,248
All countries	255,686	1,168,733

Table 7.2 Turnover and number of persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by sector, 2019
	Turnover	Persons engaged
	€ millions	Number
Manufacturing	69,686	279,089
Services	89,854	685,603
Distribution	75,282	176,613
Other	20,864	27,428
All sectors	255,686	1,168,733

Table 7.3 Structural Business Statistics¹ by sector and nationality of ownership, 2019
	Irish-owned	Foreign-owned affiliates			All enterprises²
		Owned by EU multinationals	Owned by non-EU multinationals	Total
Number of enterprises
Industry	17,724	468	407	875	18,599
Construction	58,659	388	128	516	59,175
Distribution	45,350	873	563	1,436	46,786
Services (excl. Financials)	156,990	1,943	1,973	3,916	160,906
All sectors	278,723	3,672	3,071	6,743	285,466
Number of persons engaged
Industry	144,630	30,936	88,832	119,768	264,398
Construction	147,135	6,364	4,728	11,092	158,227
Distribution	277,845	70,909	41,792	112,701	390,546
Services (excl. Financials)	706,445	82,005	111,636	193,641	900,086
All sectors	1,276,055	190,214	246,988	437,202	1,713,257
Turnover (€millions)
Industry	41,938	20,845	224,899	245,744	287,682
Construction	29,641	2,151	1,909	4,060	33,701
Distribution	94,689	31,068	66,860	97,928	192,617
Services (excl. Financials)	99,526	23,834	175,865	199,699	299,224
All sectors	265,794	77,898	469,533	547,431	813,224
GVA (€millions)
Industry	13,891	6,809	93,947	100,756	114,646
Construction	10,000	657	519	1,176	11,176
Distribution	11,857	5,265	8,762	14,027	25,884
Services (excl. Financials)	42,248	7,542	51,417	58,959	101,207
All sectors	77,996	20,273	154,645	174,918	252,913
Source: CSO Structural Business surveys and Business Demography data.
¹ Industry covers NACE Rev.2 (05-39) of which Manufacturing (10-33), Construction (41-43), Distribution (45-47) and Services covers NACE Rev. 2 H to N (excluding K) and includes NACE divisions R92, R93, S95, S96.
² Totals may differ due to rounding.

Business in Ireland 2019