2022 | 2021 | |||||
Before exceptional items | Exceptional items (note 5) | Total | Before exceptional items | Exceptional items (note 5) | Total | |
€m | €m | €m | €m | €m | €m | |
Raw material cost of goods sold/bought in finished goods | 1,108.9 | - | 1,108.9 | 562.1 | - | 562.1 |
Inventory write-down/(recovered) (note 14) | 1.1 | (4.1) | (3.0) | 0.9 | 5.8 | 6.7 |
Employee remuneration (note 3) | 125.5 | 0.6 | 126.1 | 101.6 | 6.8 | 108.4 |
Direct brand marketing | 17.7 | - | 17.7 | 13.5 | - | 13.5 |
Other operating, selling and administration costs | 102.4 | (11.1) | 91.3 | 86.6 | 2.7 | 89.3 |
Foreign exchange | 0.5 | - | 0.5 | (0.6) | - | (0.6) |
29.2 | - | 29.2 | 28.2 | - | 28.2 | |
Amortisation (note 12) | 2.6 | - | 2.6 | 2.6 | - | 2.6 |
Net (profit)/loss on disposal of property, plant & equipment | 0.2 | (1.8) | (1.6) | 0.3 | (0.7) | (0.4) |
Auditor’s remuneration (a) | 1.5 | - | 1.5 | 1.3 | - | 1.3 |
Impairment of intangible assets (note 12) | 0.6 | - | 0.6 | - | 0.3 | 0.3 |
Impairment of equity accounted investment (note 13) | - | 6.4 | 6.4 | - | 9.1 | 9.1 |
Net (revaluation)/impairment of property, plant & machinery (note 11) | - | (0.6) | (0.6) | - | 1.2 | 1.2 |
Total operating expenses | 1,390.2 | (10.6) | 1,379.6 | 796.5 | 25.2 | 821.7 |
(a) Auditor’s remuneration: The remuneration of the Group’s statutory auditor, being the Irish firm of the principal auditor of the Group, Ernst & Young, Chartered Accountants is as follows:
EY Ireland 2022 | Other EY Offices 2022 | Total 2022 | EY Ireland 2021 | Other EY Offices 2021 | Total 2021 | |
€m | €m | €m | €m | €m | €m | |
Audit of the Group financial statements | 0.4 | - | 0.4 | 0.5 | - | 0.5 |
Audit of subsidiaries | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
Non-audit services | 0.4 | - | 0.4 | - | - | - |
Total | 1.2 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.3 |
The audit fee for the audit of the financial statements of the Company was less than €0.1m in the current and prior financial year. There were €0.4m of non-audit fees paid to Ernst & Young during the current financial year (FY2021: €nil) in respect of services in connection with the Rights Issue.
(b) Cyber security expenses: On 19 April 2021, the Group announced that it had experienced a cyber security incident within its Matthew Clark and Bibendum (MCB) operations. In response, certain IT systems and applications used in those business units were pro-actively shut down and were securely restored over the course of a number of weeks. By the end of May 2021, MCB was again using their IT systems and applications. The cyber security incident affected MCB only, with other Group business and production sites unaffected throughout the period.
The Group incurred €2.6m of costs in FY2022 as a direct result of the cyber security incident in April. These costs primarily related to specialist advisory fees incurred to investigate and respond to the incident (€1.1m) and subsequent improvements and additional protection tools to enhance the security of the IT systems (€1.5m). Following the incident affecting Matthew Clark and Bibendum IT systems in April 2021, the Group has reviewed its information security and cyber preparedness policies and procedures, enhanced its Information Technology systems and controls, including the appointment of a Technology and Transformation Director and Group Head of IT. As a demonstration of the Group's commitment to tackling cyber security, it is currently pursuing Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).