Star Wars fever boosts revenues at Disney store

The scramble for Star Wars film merchandise helped increase revenues and sharply reduce losses at the Disney store on Dublin’s Grafton Street last year.

Newly-filed accounts for TDS Disney Ireland Ltd show that the firm’s pre-tax losses — in the 12 months to the beginning of October — totalled €52,000.

That was almost €200,000 less than the €249,000 loss recorded in 2014.

Star Wars — The Force Awakens was released last December worldwide but the merchandise from the movie went on sale three months earlier.

This contributed to revenues at the Irish firm increasing by 22% — from €5.54m to €6.74m — in the 12 months under review.

The Disney movie, Frozen — which was released in November 2013 — continued to prove a massive cash cow for the entertainment giant last year.

Demand for its Anna and Elsa dolls also continued to be strong at the Dublin store.

In response to the mounting demand for Frozen merchandes — must-have Christmas presents in 2014 — the Grafton Street store limited customers to two dolls of each character from the film.

A similar policy was adopted in stores in the US.

In 2014, Disney confirmed that the Dublin store was in the corporation’s top five most profitable outlets in Europe.

In April of that year, the company said that marketing studies had shown that 88% of Irish parents have spent money on the entertainment giant’s products.

The latest accounts show that Disney is paying a lease of €1m — or almost €20,000 per week — for the high profile Grafton Street premises.

Following the significant reduction in losses, TDS Disney’s directors said they were “satisfied” with the performance of the company.

“The company will continue to operate its principal activity for the foreseeable future,” they said in the accounts.

Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 44 to 55 with staff costs increasing from €628,000 to €1m.

The loss last year takes into account non-cash depreciation costs of €405,000 and amortisation costs of €60,000.

The Dublin outlet is one of two Disney Stores on the island of Ireland, the other being in Belfast.