Cash pile grows at Aiken Promotions' UK arm

Following the Garth Brooks concert Croke Park debacle, last year is likely to be a year Aiken Promotions would want to quickly forget.

But new figures show the cash pile at the business’s UK arm still jumped to £6m (€8.56m).

The Aiken Promotions Ltd accounts filed to Companies House in the UK show that the firm enjoyed a boost in fortunes as profits climbed by £93,000 to £1.371m.

And, in the same period, the firm’s cash pile climbed £2.1m to £6.1m.

Last year, 400,000 fans paid over €27m to see Garth Brooks over a number of concerts in Dublin.

A row over licencing meant that the five concerts did not go ahead at Croke Park.

Peter Aiken, managing director of the family firm, said at the time cancellation costs of the concerts to his company would run to “seven figures”.

The performance of the Aiken Promotions Irish business are, however, off limits, as the firm has un- limited status here and is not required to file annual accounts.

And an auditor’s report lodged with the Companies Office does not say if the firm made a profit or a loss in 2014.

Separate figures from the music industry journal Pollstar show that the numbers attending Aiken Promotions’ gigs in Ireland last year totalled 229,904 people.

That represented a sharp fall on the 520,000 patrons who attended Aiken gigs in the previous year.

The 2013 numbers were boosted by around 140,000 fans who attended Bruce Springsteen concerts, meaning the gross box office receipts on the Springsteen gigs was an estimated €13m.

However, the Pollstar figures may underestimate all the activities of Aiken Promotions.

The figures show Aiken’s promotion of Beyoncé at Dublin’s 3Arena last year generated €4m, as 51,100 music fans flocked to the star’s four concerts.

The promoter also recorded a major triumph with four sell-out Ed Sheeran gigs at the 3Arena.

Those performances generated €2.1m in receipts, split between the artist, promoter, and venue.

Along with the Beyoncé concerts, Aiken Promotions (Ireland) last year attracted other big names, including John Bishop, Morrissey, James Blunt, and James Taylor.

Aiken Promotions also promotes events at one of the most popular music venues in the country, Vicar Street in Dublin.

The venue won Irish Music Venue of 2014.

It also promotes Live at Marquee in Cork, Live at Iveagh Gardens in Dublin, and the Vodafone Comedy Festival.