Business school report shows €1.3m profit fall

PROFITS at the country’s largest private third-level college, the Dublin Business School, plunged by €1.3 million in 2004.

Newly filed accounts for the college show that in the 18 months to end December 2004, pre-tax profits fell from €1.48m to just under €160,000.

No reason was given in the accounts for the decline in profitability, though there was a significant rise in administration costs over the period.

Revenues for the 18 months were €18.4m, compared to €11.5m in the year end to end June 2003.

“It is the intention to continue this trend through the introduction of new courses and the development of new markets,” the company said. The college, which offers business, accountancy, marketing, IT and other courses to both fee-paying and CAO students, was bought in 2003 by a subsidiary of the Washington Post newspaper.

The deal is believed to have netted the college’s founders - Michael Meagher, his wife Olivia, financial controller Donal Quill and Gerard Muldowney - around €15m. They still run the business.

The company paid a dividend of €103,683 to its shareholders.

The wages and salary bill in 2004 came to €7.3m.

Payments to company directors totalled just over €852,000, up from €816,000 in 2003. The company paid €1.05m to a former director of the college and his wife in lieu of receiving future payments.