Hawk-Eye profits surge to €24m on new global contracts

The income from GAA’s hurling and Gaelic football represents only a small fraction of Hawkeye’s revenues. Picture: Diarmuid Greene/Sportsfile

Pre-tax profits at the sports tech firm that decides questionable points in top GAA games and is behind the controversial VAR technology in football this year increased by 19% to £20.28m (€24.08m).

New accounts for Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd show the business recorded the increase in pre-tax profits as revenues increased by 27% from £62.05m to £78.74m (€93.1m) in the 12 months to the end of March this year.

The pre-tax profits of £20.28m this year followed pre-tax profits of £16.99m in the prior year.

The Hawk-Eye score detection technology has become an integral part of the big GAA match occasions at Croke Park over the last number of years and the directors say revenue growth of 27% was driven by new and expanded contracts, World Cup events that took place during the financial year and the introduction of new, innovative products.

Operating profits decreased marginally from £17.09m to £16.99m and the directors say inflationary pressures and competitive market conditions have driven an overall reduction in gross margin.

Pre-tax profits increased to £20.28m due to a contingent consideration gain of £4.28m offset by net interest charges of £993,000.

Research and development costs this year more than doubled from £2.97m to £7.3m and directors say “the investment in R&D is a conscious business decision to help drive longer term growth”.

The directors say Hawk-Eye business renewed and expanded several strategic partnerships with major sports organisations and rights holders in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

The directors say Hawk-Eye “is now proud to work with 23 of the top 25 sports leagues globally”.

At GAA games, Hawk-Eye operates on the basis of four cameras at either end of the ground, which capture and track the movement of the ball.

In the year under review, the score detection system was stood down for Derry-Cork and Dublin-Mayo All-Ireland football quarter-finals in July of last year as a result of operator error during the Monaghan-Armagh football quarter-final.

The company’s revenues have been boosted in recent years with football leagues introducing Hawk-Eye controversial VAR technology around the world.

This is reflected in the new accounts showing revenues from football were the main driver behind revenues increasing.

The accounts show football revenues increased by 29% from £45.7m to £58.97m and this year accounted for 75% of company revenues.

The income from GAA’s hurling and Gaelic football represents only a small fraction of Hawk-Eye’s revenues and is included in "other sports", where revenues this year declined from £2.57m to £1.45m.

The accounts for the Sony-owned firm show revenues for the UK and Ireland this year fell from £16.2m (€19.2m)  to £15.85m (€18.82m).

Europe is the company’s largest market, with revenues totalling £36m or 46% of total revenues this year.

The firm’s two other major revenue generators were tennis at £8.69m and cricket at £6.02m.

Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd this year paid out a dividend of £12.95m following a dividend payout of £8.54m in the prior 12 months.

Numbers employed by the company this year increased from 529 to 589, as staff costs increased by 25%, from £26.94m to £33.8m The profit this year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £8.4m. The company recorded a post-tax loss of £15.92m following a corporation tax charge of £4.35m.

Shareholder funds totalled £55.29m.