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RTÉ commercial arm increases after-tax profits to €1.4m

A doubling of mobile revenues from smartphone apps and increasing popularity of the RTÉ Player contributed to RTÉ’s publishing and commercial arm increasing its after-tax profits by 47% last year to €1.36m.

RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd generates revenues from the RTÉ Guide and the sale of RTÉ programmes overseas, and also provides a range of free online services.

In contrast to the RTÉ organisation sustaining losses of €16.8m last year, the figures confirm an improved financial performance at its subsidiary, with revenues at RTÉ Commercial Enterprises rising from €21.5m to €21.7m in the 12 months to the end of Dec 2011.

The firm increased its post-tax profits by €440,000 from €929,000, while operating costs rose from €20.4m to €20.45m and pre-tax profits rose from €1.17m to €1.26m. The firm enjoyed a tax credit last year of €101,000, compared to a tax expense of €248,000 in 2010.

RTÉ Commercial Enterprises operates RTÉ.ie, the RTÉ Player, and Aertel. The directors’ report states that no licence fee income is utilised to fund the provision of either RTÉ’s publishing public service or its commercial publications.

The report states that “the increased popularity of the RTÉ Player and the growth in popularity of mobile traffic through RTÉ.ie’s mobile apps resulted in mobile revenues doubling year-on-year, and we believe that this trend is set to continue”.

The returns confirm that the circulation of the RTÉ Guide last year declined from 84,018 to 74,382 and “faced another challenging year in a particularly turbulent magazine market. Circulation sales fell in 2011 due to continuing market contractions at retail level and an overall decline consistent with the total print market.”

Employee costs fell from €7.247m to €7.241m, and other personnel-related costs, including contractors, increased from €785,000 to €1.33m.

The average number of personnel the company employed last year rose from 96 to 101.

The directors state: “It is the intention of the directors to continue to develop the principal activities of the group and to identify areas with future growth potential.” Home

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