Grey sales put the rest of Ireland’s top 10 in the shade

Irish readers have contributed in no small way to the fortune created by the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon by purchasing almost 500,000 copies of the books over the past four years.

Figures provided by Nielsen Book Research show that the Irish public have snapped up a total of 458,995 copies from the series generating €5.26m for the author and the book industry.

The figures follow new accounts published by EL James’s Fifty Shades Ltd showing that the firm has amassed mouthwatering revenues of over €105m over the past three years.

According to accounts filed by the author’s Fifty Shades Ltd, the firm recorded pre-tax profits of £12.59m (€17.67m) in the year ending in September.

The pre-tax profit represents a sharp decrease on the £33.3m pre-tax profits recorded in 2013 as revenues from the global best selling series have tumbled.

Last year, the firm recorded revenues of £18.17m and this represents a 59% drop on the peak revenues of £43.9m generated in 2013.

A statement attached to the accounts states that “the company had a very successful year during which it secured further royalty and licensing agreements”.

Over the three years, the firm has generated £74.86m (€105.12m) in revenues from the book series that has sold 125m copies worldwide.

The 458,995 sales includes 203,676 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey since 2012 generating €2.2m in sales — the vast proportion of copies — 188,176 were bought in 2012.

Irish readers have purchased a further 125,885 copies of Fifty Shades Darker and 116,229 copies of Fifty Shades Freed since 2012.

Interest in the series shows no sign of abating in Ireland with the latest instalment, Grey selling 8,164 in its first week, almost double the rest of the top 10 best selling books combined.

Grey, which gives billionaire Christian Grey’s version of events, sold 647,401 copies in its first three days worldwide.

Boosted by the release of the Fifty Shades movie, the number of copies sold this year here of the original book at 5,244 is almost double the number of copies sold last year at 2,792.

The movie smashed box offices records here earlier this year on its release generating €3m in ticket sales.

The new accounts filed with Companies House in the UK show that Ms James last year paid herself dividends of £2.64m and this followed her receiving dividends of £3.24m in 2013.

At the end of September last, the firm was sitting on a cash pile of £26.32m and its accumulated profits topped £37m. The firm last year made charitable donations of £846,449 which followed donations of £2.14m in 2013.

The firm last year paid corporation tax of £2.73m resulting in post tax profits of £9.85m.

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