Accumulated profts at Brian O’Driscoll firm hit €10m

Funds at Amy Huberman’s company pass €1m mark

Brian O'Drisicoll and Amy Huberman. Accumulated profits at the main firm owned by former Irish rugby star Brian O’Driscoll last year surged to €10.47 million

Accumulated profits at the main firm owned by former Irish rugby star Brian O’Driscoll last year surged to €10.47 million.

Abridged accounts filed by O’Driscoll’s ODM & Promotions Ltd to the Companies Office show the company recorded post-tax profits of €810,463 in the 12 months to the end of last August – an average of €15,585 per week.

The profits of €810,463 are a 26 per cent increase on the post-tax profits of €641,383 recorded in the 12 months to the end of August 2022.

Cash funds at the company last year increased by €282,549 from €1.85 million to €2.14 million.

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The company achieved the increase in post-tax profits despite the additional cost last year of directors receiving €212,707 following zero paid out under that heading in 2022.

In yet another buoyant year for the business, the value of the company’s financial assets increased by €224,749 from €5.693 million to €5.917 million.

The book value of the company’s investment properties reduced from €1.8m to €1.04m and this followed ‘disposals’ with a book value of €763,057.

A note with the account’s said that the investment properties are rented residences.

The firm has consistently recorded strong profits in recent years and the profits for 2023 and 2022 follow profits of €874,120 profits in 2021; €899,710 in 2020, €694,791 for 2019 and €596,006 in 2018 as the Clontarf man’s financial fortunes have continued to flourish away from the playing field.

Mr O’Driscoll’s website said that he “now works in a number of capacities in the business and sporting world” and he appears as a regular rugby pundit on Newstalk and was part of ITV’s pundit line-up for its Rugby World Cup coverage last Autumn.

Pay to staff at the company, which includes directors, last year increased from €124,470 to €348,754, made up of wages and salaries of €335,251 and €13,503 in social insurance costs.

The firm’s financial assets are made up of €3.94 million in shares in group undertakings; €679,906 in participating interests while there was €224,749 in additions to ‘other investments’ – offset by a write-down of €91,486 – to bring to a total of €1.25 million.

The €679,906 in participating investments relates to a 33.3 per cent investment in White Water LLC, a New York limited liability company.

O’Driscoll ended his decorated playing career with Ireland and Leinster in 2014 and the ODM & Promotions Ltd’s only other director is O’Driscoll’s father, Frank.

The two signed off on the accounts on July 4th.

Meanwhile, separate accounts filed by Mr O’Driscoll’s partner, Amy Huberman, show that the cash funds at her entertainment firm passed €1 million for the first time in 2023.

The new accounts filed by Ms Huberman’s ASM Entertainment Ltd show that the company recorded post-tax profits of €233,628 in the 12 months to the end of August last and this was an 18.5 per cent increase on the post tax profits recorded of €197,097 in 2022.

Mr Huberman’s popularity with the Irish public is confirmed with a combined audience of over 934,000 on the Dubliner’s Twitter and Instagram accounts and accumulated profits at the company last year increased from €1.058 million to €1.291 million.

Cash funds at the company increased €245,645 from €826,766 to €1.07m.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times