Mrs Brown’s trip Down Under adds to €4m profit to Brendan O' Carroll's firms

The global success of Brendan O’Carroll’s foul- mouthed mammy, Agnes Browne, last year resulted in three O’Carroll firms recording combined profits of just under €4m.

Recently, the Dubliner reminded an awards audience here that he is not a millionaire but a multi-millionaire and it is easy to see why from these new figures.

O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys has long been a ratings winner in Ireland and the UK, but the new accounts show that the show’s Australian fans were the main driver behind the franchise’s profits last year.

An audience of over 1m watch each episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys in Australia and O’Carroll and the entire cast of the series completed a 30-date sell-out tour there in 2014.

Figures from O’Carroll’s Australian firm, Mrs Brown’s Boys Australia Pty Ltd, reveal that the show recorded profits of €3.018m in 2014 on the back of tour revenues.

Separate figures show that another O’Carroll firm, the Irish based Boc Productions Ltd enjoyed profits of €388,482, while a third firm, Boc Pix Ltd enjoyed profits of €505,525 in 2014.

In total, the three firms recorded profits of €3.894m.

The figures show that the cash pile at a fourth O’Carroll firm, Mrs Brown’s Boys Ltd, last year reduced from €2.9m to €162,403 — the firm was owed an additional €1.65m by debtors.

The separate accounts filed by Boc Productions Ltd show that the cash pile at that firm last year increased €140,000, going from €289,968 to €429,415.

The stellar performance by the three O’Carroll firms coincided with Mrs Brown’s Boys continuing to dominate the TV ratings in both Ireland the UK.

Two Christmas specials have been shot for this Christmas and last year, Mrs Brown’s Boys beat Downton Abbey, Eastenders, and Dr Who in the UK to be the most watched show pulling in an average 9.4m viewers on Christmas night.

O’Carroll will add to his coffers with the Mrs Brown’s Boys How Now Brown Cow tour, which is to play six performances at the 3 Arena, starting today and running to next Saturday.

The proceeds of one matinee performance are going to three charities that includes St Vincent de Paul.

Next year, the Mrs Brown’s Boys phenomenon has lined up a 14-week worldwide tour, going back to Australia and New Zealand, while preparations are being made to make a follow-up movie to the very successful Mrs Brown Boys D’Movie

that took in €3.8m in box office receipts in Ireland alone last year.

DVD sales are a major money spinner for the O’Carroll business.

Worldwide DVD sales of Mrs Brown’s Boys passed the 5m mark last year, the first of nine Mrs Brown DVDs was released in 2011.