£3.29m dividend for music promoter Desmond

Concert promoter Denis Desmond has added to his fortune by sharing a dividend totalling £3.29m (€4.1m) from his Festival Republic business last year.

Last year, the UK-based Festival Republic staged the sold out Electric Picnic at Stradbally, Co Laois, and new figures for Festival Republic Ltd just lodged with Companies House show that the company recorded a 22% increase in pre-tax profits last year to £6.15m.

This followed revenues increasing by 2.6% from £41.42m to £42.52m in the 12 months to the end of December last.

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

The dividend payout last year followed dividend payouts of £2.93m in 2012 and this followed a dividend payout of £6.6m in 2011

In an interview yesterday, Mr Desmond said that Electric Picnic last year enjoyed “a big turnaround, going from substantial loss-making to recording a small profit”.

Mr Desmond attributed the successful festival to a very strong line up and attractive ticket pricing.

He said: “The pricing offers great value when you compare $750 for a ticket to Coachella in the US or prices for Glastonbury.”

Mr Desmond said that Electric Picnic 2014 is already ahead of sales over last year’s event.

He said that his MCD Productions business in Ireland is performing well with gigs like Kanye West expected to hit their target.

A note attached to the accounts states that Festival Republic “has net assets, is profit making and has a considerable cash balance. The company’s forecasts project that it will continue to trade profitably and be in a strong liquidity position.”

Melvin Benn is managing director of Festival Republic Ltd.

The figures show that Festival Republic’s accumulated profits last year increased to £22.58m with the firm’s cash increasing from £4.5m to £5.1m.

The remuneration for one unidentified director at Festival Republic totalled £694,886 last year, with the other directors’ emoluments borne by other companies.

The highest paid director’s pay was made up of £576,442 in pay, including benefits in kind, £77,766 in social security costs and £40,678 in pension contributions.

The numbers employed last year increased from 59 to 62 with staff costs last year increasing from £3.2m to £3.47m.

Last month Festival Republic reached a settlement with music promoter, John Reynolds and his POD Music Organisation concerning Electric Picnic.

Having founded Electric Picnic in 2004, Mr Reynolds sold a 71% stake in the event to Festival Republic in 2009 for €4.2m.

As part of the agreement, POD Music has agreed to divest its remaining stake to Festival Republic Dublin.