Christy Moore's music firm plunges into the red due to Covid-19 shutdown

The legendary singer's company 'Yellow Furze Ltd' recorded a post-tax loss of €146,460 in the 12 months to the end of March this year

Christy Moore headlined the highly-anticipated first indoor pilot gig in Ireland at Gleneagle INEC, Killarney on Saturday, June 26 in front of 200 people.  Accounts from Mr Moore company showed a post-tax loss of €146,460 in the 12 months to the end of March this year
Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan/

Christy Moore's music firm last year plunged into the red due to the Covid-19 pandemic shutting down the live music industry.

Now after 50 years on the road, new accounts show that Moore’s Yellow Furze Ltd recorded a post-tax loss of €146,460 in the 12 months to the end of March this year.

The pandemic loss followed the company recording a profit of €332,339 in the prior year.

The principal activity of the company is the sale of music performances and recordings by Christy Moore and the Kildare man has been deprived of the mainstay of his income, live performance revenues, since March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has only recently commenced performing in public in recent weeks as Covid-19 restrictions are eased.

The loss last year resulted in accumulated profits declining from €1.67m to €1.53m.

The company’s cash pile last year was reduced from €1.54m to €566,432.

The drop in cash funds is mainly connected with the company purchasing an investment property during the year and it had a book value of €840,067 at the end of March this year.

The loss last year takes account of non-cash goodwill amortisation costs of €57,692.

Back on stage

In recent posts on his own website, the singer-songwriter reflected on his return to the stage.

On performing before a socially distanced audience at Pearse Stadium in Galway recently, Christy said: "We had a glorious trip to Galway, just to be back out on the road was reward in itself."

He went on:

 “The gig itself was amazing for me – such a welcome, such participation, I just tore into it and loved every minute of it.

After playing to another socially distant audience at the Pavillon at Dun Laoghaire, Moore remarked: “We can but hope that we are on our way out of this recent debacle and that we have learned to respect the fragility of our existence on this beautiful planet."

The performer — who has been entertaining audiences in Ireland and the UK across the past five decades — is best known for his Ride On and I’m An Ordinary Man anthems.

The firm employs three people including directors and last year, pay to directors decreased marginally from €132,819 to €124,604.

Moore is also well known as a founding member of Moving Hearts and Planxty and the accounts show that Yellow Furze Music Ltd has rights that generate royalty income — the figures show that the firm has unidentified intangible assets valued at €173,079.

Company figures show that the wealth of the firm has increased in recent years — its accumulated profits have grown from €524,172 to €1.53m over the past number of years.