O2 operators show after-tax profits of €7.15m for year

THE OPERATORS of the O2 venue in Dublin last year recorded after-tax profits of €7.15 million in the venue’s first full year of operation.

More than one million people went through the doors of the venue in its first year and the profits by the company that operates the O2, Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd, to the end of December last shows the company recording after-tax losses of €531,672 in 2008 when the venue was open for less than one month.

The former Point Theatre closed in August 2007 to enable renovations be carried out and the €80 million 02 venue reopened on the site in December 2008.

The building is jointly owned by Dublin businessman Harry Crosbie and Los Angelus-based concert promoters Live Nation which counts U2, Madonna and the Rolling Stones among its acts.

The profit secured by Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd is confirmed in accounts filed to the Companies Office by a holding company, Live Nation Ireland Holdings Ltd (LNIHL).

The accounts cover the year to the end of December last.

The holding company’s account state that Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd had capital and reserves of €48.9 million at the end of last year.

LNIHL last year received a dividend payment of €2.2 million from Amphitheatre Ireland.

No turnover figure for Amphitheatre Ireland is available for 2009 as the company’s figures have been consolidated into filings for a London-based Live Nation subsidiary, Apollo Leisure Group Ltd.

This company provides financial information on a number of Live Nation music venues in the UK and Ireland and it shows that the Apollo Leisure Group recorded operating profits of £16.9 million with revenues rising by 12 per cent to £66.5 million to the end of December last.

The directors’ report states that the number of admissions fell by 18.7 per cent to 5.3 million and the number of shows fell by 24 per cent to 3,814. But they add that this decline was partly offset by a full-year trading of the O2 in Dublin.

More than 170 shows were staged at the O2 last year and these included Beyoncé, Leonard Cohen, Coldplay and the Killers, while upcoming gigs include Lady Ga Ga, Arcade Fire and Elton John.

The accounts confirm that Mr Crosbie owns 50 per cent of Amphitheatre Ireland.

In 2008, mobile phone company O2 agreed to pay €25 million for the naming rights of the revamped Point in a 10-year deal.

Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd yesterday declined to comment.