Mighty Quinn’s media firm nets €555,000 profit

Football punditry is a lucrative business with figures showing former Ireland star Niall Quinn’s media firm enjoyed profits of €555,000 last year.

Accounts filed by Niall Quinn Media Services Ltd (NQMSL) for the 12 months to the end of December last with the Companies Office show the firm enjoyed a positive swing of €555,327, going from accumulated losses of €75,499 in 2011 to €479,738 in accumulated profits.

The boost in fortunes follows Quinn returning to Sky Sports as a regular pundit on the Premier League.

Yesterday, the former Ireland frontman said: “I enjoy the punditry. I have the best seat in the house to see the games and it is the next best thing to playing. I now have a global view of the game rather than just caring about what happens at Sunderland.”

Yesterday, Sunderland City Council announced Quinn is to be awarded the Freedom of Sunderland for his contribution to the city while chairman of Sunderland FC.

Mr Quinn’s firm has a rolling two-year contract with Sky.

The figures show that rather than take a large dividend from the firm, Mr Quinn has ploughed €671,832 from his media firm into his satellite broadband company, Qsat.

The 46-year old said: “We have got through the initiation period in the past 18 months with Qsat. It has been tough to get going, but I’m delighted with the progress we have made and hopefully, we have a decent future ahead of us.”

The firm employs 18 people at its headquarters in Blanchardstown with a further 10 people indirectly employed at a call centre along with additional installers employed across the country.

“We have worked hard to get to a solid position. We think we’re there, but you never know in the current climate,” Mr Quinn said, adding that the firm is approaching 7,000 domestic customers in Ireland and the UK.

The most recent accounts for Qsat show that it has accumulated losses of €1.1m for the six months to the end of Dec 2011 with shareholders’ deficit standing at €477,780.

Mr Quinn said that the losses relate to start-up costs and the losses for the following 12 months will be higher as part of the firm’s initiation phase.