Profits at Desmond’s festival firm rise to £20m

Ireland’s most successful concert promoter Denis Desmond has added to his fortune by sharing dividends totalling £9.58m (€11m) from his Festival Republic business over the past two years.

The Electric Picnic is one of six outdoor festivals that Festival Republic will be promoting this year. New figures show Mr Desmond’s Gaiety Investments shared a further £2.93m in dividends last year from Festival Republic, and this followed a dividend payout of £6.6m in 2011.

Gaiety Investments has a 49.9% share in Festival Republic with concert promoters, Live Nation owning the remaining shares.