Gordon Deegan
Festival Republic, the UK-based firm that is part owned by Irish concert promoter Denis Desmond, produced dividends totalling £9.58 million (€11 million) over the past two years.
New accounts show the business produced £2.93 million in dividends last year and a dividend payout of £6.6 million in 2011.
Mr Desmond’s Gaiety Investments has a 49.9 per cent share in Festival Republic with international concert promoters, Live Nation, owning the remaining shares.
New figures show that almost 600,000 people went to see Festival Republic’s six events last year, which included the Reading and Leeds Music Festivals.
The firm’s pre-tax profits in the 12 months to the end of December last year decreased by 19 per cent from £6.25 million to £5 million, according to the accounts.This followed revenues at the firm dipping marginally from £42.2 million to £41.4 million.
Mr Desmond said that he was "very happy" with how the Festival Republic business performed last year. He said that revenues from the Electric Picnic festival at Stradbally in Co Laois will form part of Festival Republic's results for 2013 "and that will help consolidate the business for this year".
“I would be confident that Festival Republic will hit the same level of profits as it did last year.”
Acts appearing at Festival Republic’s festivals this year include Fat Boy Slim, Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Kings of Leon, The Script and Calvin Harris.
Mr Desmond said that the return of Glastonbury has resulted in a spike in ticket sales for Festival Republic’s events this Summer. “There is a feel good factor around Glastonbury. Two and a half million people watching TV saw the Rolling Stones perform at the weekend. There is a lot of positivity around music festivals as a result of Glastonbury.”
Mr Desmond said that 155,000 music fans will attend the Leeds and Reading music festivals this Summer.
He said that 600,000 people will attend open air MCD events in Ireland this summer estimating that along with Aiken Promotion’s gigs, a total of one million people will attend concerts in Ireland this summer.
