Bumper pre-tax profits for ‘Coppers’

Over 1.1 million people across the country were told two years ago ‘See you all in Coppers’ and they haven’t stopped coming since to the famed Dublin nightspot.

New figures show that the firm behind the Dublin nightclub, Copper Face Jacks, last year had bumper pre-tax profits of €6.81m.

The profits are on the same level as the €6.81m profit enjoyed by Breanagh Catering Ltd the previous year when All-Ireland winning Dublin captain Bryan Cullen exhorted Dubs fans to join him in Coppers after lifting the Sam Maguire in Sep 2011.

Celebrated recently in a Mario Rosenstock TV sketch, ‘Coppers’ on Harcourt Street has been an institution on Dublin’s night scene for a number of years — and an extremely lucrative one for its owners, ex-garda Cathal Jackson and Paula Jackson.

At the end of Jan 31 this year after another successful year, the Jackson firm was sitting on a mouth-watering cash-pile of €43m.

The new accounts show that the company can well afford the €1 million it paid the two Jacksons last year in salaries — almost double the €566,460 received by the two in salaries in 2011.

Breanagh’s 2010 accounts revealed that Copper Face Jack’s cloakroom receipts alone totalled €217,146. However, no comparative figure is provided in the 2012 accounts.

The €43m cash pile also provides a massive war-chest for the firm to contest any claims by patrons seeking damages in the courts for falling over at the venue.

During this year, the night-club successfully fought off two separate claims for damages by two women over dance floor falls in the high stakes legal battle in the High Court.

The club is housed in the Jackson Court hotel and the abridged accounts show that gross profit at the company increased by 3% from €7.18m to €7.38m.

The firm incurred administrative expenses totalling €6m.

However, unspecified “other operating income” of €5.8m resulted in a profit before interest of €6.88m.

Interest charges totalling €72,844 resulted in the pre-tax profits of €6.8m.

The firm’s corporation tax charge for the year totalled €1.26m and this followed a tax charge of €1.14m in 2011.

According to the directors’ report, “the company plans to continue its present activities and to increase turnover in the coming year”.