Turnover at Croke Park firm falls

The company that manages Croke Park for the GAA paid €3.5m to the Ard Chomhairle in 2011, down from €7m in 2010 and the €10m paid in 2009.

Accounts filed by Páirc an Chrócaigh Teoranta and Subsidiary Companies with the Companies Registration Office, show turnover at the company fell from €36.85m in 2010 to €32.31m in 2011, operating profit fell to €6.06m (2010: €11.38m).

After making the €3.5m grant repayment to the Ard Chomhairle, or executive committee of Croke Park, Teoranta recorded a pre-tax profit of €1.69m (€2.8m).

In 2010, the company made an allocation of €750,000 to the asset replacement reserve but nothing was allocated to the reserve in 2011. The reserve now stands at €7.15m. The retained earnings reserve grew by €1.69m to stand at €90.46m.

In the 2010 accounts, the “stadium redevelopment fund” stood at €39.8m, up from €37.8m the previous year. There is no mention of the “stadium redevelopment fund” in the 2011 accounts.

A spokesman for the GAA said the redevelopment fund as referenced in the 2010 accounts at €39.8m has been renamed in the 2011 accounts as “deferred term ticket revenues”. He said it can be referenced to a note to the accounts in both the 2010 and 2011 accounts.

“It was renamed in the 2011 accounts to ‘deferred term ticket revenues’ as it was felt that this heading gave a clearer definition and understanding of the reserve in question,” he said.

In 2010, Páirc an Chrócaigh Teoranta paid a grant to the GAA at Croke Park museum of €800,000 but no payment was made in 2011. The company’s income has been hit hard over recent years with income from “hire of facilities” in particular bearing the brunt of the recession, bringing in just over €3m in 2011, down from €7m in 2010 and way back on the €18.7m earned under this heading in 2009.

Income from “corporate facilities” came in at €9.22m in 2011, down from €10.08m in 2010. Advertising income rose to €583,702 in 2011, up from €439,140 a year earlier.

Costs allocated to “repair and upkeep of grounds and match day costs” rose to €5.21m. A new heading under expenditure “impairment of company debtors” saw €4,981,876 written off.

The average number of employees in 2011 was 31 the same as 2010. In the 2011 accounts salaries came to €1,538,581 (2010: €1,590,766) but the 2010 accounts give the figure for 2010 as €1,190,766.

A GAA spokesman said: “The wages and salaries costs for 2011 is the actual cost incurred under this heading — a portion of the 2010 wages and salaries costs had been classified in other &profit and loss expense headings but has now been reclassified to reflect a like comparative to the 2011 charge.”