Sportswear firm O’Neill’s opens Australia sales office

Irish sportswear firm, O’Neill’s has just opened a sales office in Australia in a bid to take advantage of the emigrant dollar there.

Director of O’Neill’s, Paul Towell confirmed the opening of the sales office in Australia in recent weeks to further drive sales there after stating that sales in Australia last year increased by 20%.

Mr Towell said that since the collapse of the Celtic Tiger, with large numbers emigrating to Australia, the growth in sales of O’Neill’s goods there has been “remarkable”.

Mr Towell was commenting on new accounts for the O’Neill group in the Republic showing that pre-tax profits last year increased by 10% to €313,464.

This follows gross profit increasing by 3% from €8m to €8.2m.

Mr Towell attributed part of the jump in profits to the ‘significant’ number of Clare jerseys sold by O’Neills last year as the Banner county strode towards their All-Ireland hurling win.

Sports shops across Clare were sold out of O’Neill Clare jerseys last year as the team progressed to the All-Ireland and Mr Towell said yesterday: “Clare had not been involved in a final for a while and we did sell a lot of Clare jerseys last year.”

Mr Towell said that profits at the business last year increased due to the increase in the economy.

He said that overall in 2014 the business is performing stronger than last year. He said: “There is more money about and we noticed the first improvement in the summer of last year.”

Accumulated profits at O’Neill’s Balbriggan Textiles Ltd last year totalled €14.39m. The firm’s cash increased from €2.3m to €3.5m.

Results for the firm’s Northern Ireland arm, O’Neill’s Irish International Sports Company Ltd also improved last year with pre-tax profits increasing by over £27,000 to £452,364 last year.

This follows the firm’s gross profit decreasing from £3.64m to £3.46m.

In spite of the drop in gross profit, the firm’s revenues increased by 4%. Accumulated profits at the Northern Ireland arm last year totalled £6.4m.

Long associated with the GAA since it was established on Dublin’s Capel Street in 1918, the group today operates two manufacturing plants in Strabane, Co Tyrone and Walkinstown Avenue in Dublin.