An in-depth investigation by the Irish Farmers Journal can reveal that 12 companies closely linked to Larry Goodman made combined profits of €182m last year.

Accounts seen by this paper for seven of these companies’ show that less than €290,000 was set aside for taxes on combined profits of more than €105m. This equates to an effective tax rate of less than 0.3%, which is considerably lower than the 12.5% corporate tax rate in Ireland.

In the past year, a number of key companies within the Goodman group have relocated to Luxembourg, which allows for some visibility into their financial performance. For the first time, we can reveal Larry Goodman’s business empire is valued at close to €4bn. It has extended from its beef processing roots and now has interests in pet foods, property investments and healthcare.

The Irish Farmers Journal investigation into Larry Goodman’s business empire will continue over the coming weeks.