Rugby memoir boosts O’Mahony Booksellers profits

By Gordon Deegan

Sales of Munster and Ireland rugby legend Paul O’Connell’s autobiography helped boost profits at O’Mahony Booksellers last year.

Newly-filed accounts for the company — which has shops in Limerick, Tralee and Ennis — show a 26% rise in pre-tax profits, to €203,946, for the 12 months to the end of last February.

O’Mahony’s benefited from 2016 being a bumper year for book sales in Ireland, with overall nationwide sales value up 9% to €131m. Nielsen figures show that JK Rowling’s latest Harry Potter title, The Cursed Child sold nearly 70,000 copies in Ireland amounting to just over €1.3m in sales.

Paul O’Connell The Battle memoir was the only other title to break the €1m sales mark, selling 66,738 copies nationwide and taking just under €1.25m.

O’Mahony’s also benefited from bumper sales of Graham Norton’s debut novel, Holding which sold 51,814 copies nationwide, taking in just under €620,000.

Numbers employed by O’Mahony’s last year marginally decreased to 67 with staff costs increasing from €1.85m to €1.88m.

Pay for directors, Frank and Peter O’Mahony, decreased from €200,828 to €153,439.

The accounts show that the company has a contract with Peter O’Mahony to provide consultancy services and €95,000 was paid to him, in this regard.

The bookseller’s cash pile increased during the year going from €383,700 to €417,763 and its accumulated profits rose to €359,416.