Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium saw its turnover surge to €7.5 million in the year to the end of June 2022, accounts just filed at the Companies Office show.
Revenue at the amusement arcade businesses, which are based on O’Connell Street and in Phibsborough in Dublin, increased from €1.5 million in the previous year, when its premises were subject to pandemic shutdowns.
Dublin Pool and Juke Box Company Ltd, which is owned by Richard Quirke, narrowed its operating loss from €4.96 million in the previous year to €322,605, accounts for the company Dr Quirkey’s show.
Its net loss arrived at €965,504, which compares with a loss of more than €14 million in the previous period, in which the business recorded a property writedown of €8.4 million and was also affected by Covid restrictions.
At the end of its 2021-2022 financial year, the company had assets of €27.6 million, up from about €27.3 million the year before, while its liabilities arrived at €10.7 million, up from €9.4 million. Its net assets fell by about €965,500.
The company said that after an investigation led by an external financial consultant it had implemented “extensive wide-ranging programmes of governance and operational improvements” across the organisation. These include the introduction of new security measures around cash handling and collection, new management control systems, new “stringent” recruitment processes and new IT procedures.
This follows the December 2020 discovery by Mr Quirke and another director of a bank payment fraud perpetrated on the business. The €2.5 million fraud was calculated to have cost it more than €1 million in both 2018 and 2019 and about €544,000 in 2020.
Accounts for the company, which were signed off on April 28th, reiterate an earlier note that it is the subject of a Revenue Commissioners investigation, “the outcome of which is uncertain at present”. The directors have provided for additional liabilities and interest in the financial statements, but have not provided for potential penalties that might arise.
Dr Quirkey’s employed an average of 56 people during the year, up from 51. The number of company directors also expanded from two to five.
