Titanic Belfast profits up nearly 60%

Profits at one of the country’s most popular visitor attractions, Titanic Belfast, jumped by 57% last year to £1.25m (€1.44m).

Newly-filed accounts, for the 12 months to the end of last March, show that revenues at the attraction’s holding company marginally increased from £11.6m to £11.9m. During the year, the centre — which celebrates Belfast’s status as the birthplace of the ill-fated passenger liner — attracted 638,000 visitors.

In its first four years of operation, the attraction has welcomed 2.6m visitors.

The centre opened in March, 2012 and has started to repay some of the investment made by Donegal man, Pat Doherty, with a dividend of £3m paid last year.

The company recorded a post-tax profit of £901,720, after paying corporation tax of £358,255.

The firm’s cash more than tripled during the year, increasing from £636,566 to £2.1m.

In the accounts, management said that “the company has enjoyed a successful fourth year as a top visitor attraction...with visitors to the iconic Titanic exhibition increasing by 1% between March, 2015 and March, 2016”.

They added that there continues to be strong international interest in the story of the Titanic, with 77% of visitors coming from outside the State in the last financial year.

Security costs for the year totalled €172,187; legal and professional fees came to €195,223; cleaning costs amounted to £257,250, and marketing costs totalled €154,128.

Last year’s profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £703,188,.