Dr Quirkey’s casino and arcade group records pretax losses of €14m

Business woes continued last year for casino and arcade owner Richard Quirke as his business recorded pretax losses of €14 million.

Mr Quirke was already dealing with an alleged €2.56 million fraud perpetrated on his business that was first uncovered by himself and another director in December 2020.

The latest accounts show that Covid-19 restrictions resulted in pretax losses increasing from €1.6 million in 2020 to €14 million in the year to June 2021, at the group that operates Dr Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium

The third set of Dublin Pool and Juke Box Company Ltd annual accounts lodged with the Companies Office in recent weeks,show that the firm recorded an €8 million or 84 per cent revenue hit as revenues collapsed from €9.58 million to €1.5 million in the 12 months to the end of June last.

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The accounts said the casino and amusement machine business was shut from spring 2020 to December 2021 due to Covid-19 lockdown measures and this wiped out its “main source of income”.

The loss saw shareholder funds fall from €31.93 million to €17.85 million.

The accounts also show no further incidences of the alleged fraud, which cost the group a reported €543,758 in 2020, €1.017 million in 2019 and €1.009 million in 2018.

In response to the alleged fraud, the business implemented a wide-ranging and extensive programme of governance and operational improvements at all levels within the organisation, it said.

However, the firm’s interest bill on four years of overdue tax continued to mount in 2021 and now stands at €1.59 million, according to the accounts.

As a result of the alleged fraud, a forensic examination by financial consultants identified unpaid taxation and interest liabilities.

The Covid-19 enforced closure of the business coincided with employee numbers falling by 30, from 86 to 56.

Staff costs fell from €6.18 million to €1.9 million, which included €381,133 for “staff compensation for loss of office” last year.

Directors’ pay reduced from €213,000 to €53,250.

The business recorded an operating loss last year of €4.95 million and this followed operating losses of €951,173 in 2020.

The €14 million loss last year takes account of an €8.4 million property write-down made up of a write-down in land and buildings at €8.03 million and €432,060 in investment properties.

The loss also takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.53 million and a €1.66 million loss on the disposal of tangible assets.

Sounding a more upbeat note, the accounts said that “now that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, the directors are confident that the business will fully recover and result in strong liquidity”.

The group’s cash funds reduced from €3.93 million to €3.23 million.

A note attached to the accounts — signed off on May 13th — said the company was “the subject of a Revenue investigation, the outcome of which is uncertain at present”.

The accounts said the company had provided for additional liabilities and interest in the financial statements but had not provided for penalties that might arise.