George Hook nets €900k

Veteran broadcaster George Hook is set to pocket over €900,000 from the voluntary wind-up of his media firm.

In December 2013, the Newstalk and RTÉ broadcaster moved to wind up his firm, Foxrock Communications Ltd.

Now, documents recently filed with the Companies Office show that the 73-year-old will have €903,660 after all debts are paid.

The liquidator’s statement of accounts reveals that on the date of liquidation of the firm, the company had €970,267 in cash in the bank.

The documentation shows that the firm has realisations totalling €988,102.

However, after liquidator’s remuneration of €14,760 is paid along with other minor debts, Mr Hook — the sole shareholder in the firm — will be left with €903,660.

Mr Hook’s wife, Ingrid and son George Jnr are also directors on the now defunct Foxrock Communications firm — Ingrid joined the board in January of 2013.

Along with presenting his evening time show on the Communicorp-owned Newstalk, Hook has been a long time pundit on rugby with RTÉ.

Last year, Hook announced that he will retire from his radio show, The Right Hook, in September 2016 and plans to retire from television later this year.

The most recently filed accounts for Foxrock Communications Ltd show that the firm was sitting on accumulated profits of over €670,000 at the end of 2012. The Cork native now has one of the most recognisable voices in Irish broadcasting.

Hook presents one of Newtalk’s most popular shows, the station’s flagship The Right Hook and the latest JNLR figures show that it had 113,00 listeners.

Hook has spoken and written before of his past life as a businessman when he tried to keep banks and creditors at bay as his catering business faltered.

Father-of-three, Mr Hook has previously said the turning point for him came in November 1997 when RTÉ telephoned him to hire him as a rugby pundit for the Ireland v Italy game.

The newspaper columnist and former rugby coach said: “By accident, I found something that made me happy. Fat, balding, toothless as I was, in my declining years, I had found something that gave me self-esteem.”

Along with running a catering business for over 20 years, Hook coached London Irish and Connacht along with the US national team in the 1987 rugby world cup.