Business

National Ploughing Championships swings to profit for first post-Covid year

Company had revenues of €6.8 million in 12 months to end of January 2023

Stewards getting a lift at the National Ploughing Championships at Ratheniska, Co Laois in September this year. Photograph: Alan Betson

Gordon Deegan
Wed Dec 20 2023 - 17:50

The company behind the National Ploughing Championships (NPC) posted profits of €217,624 last year as revenues increased 64-fold and pandemic restrictions faded. The result followed combined losses of €1.25 million during 2020 and 2021, when the event was cancelled.

In September 2022, 290,000 patrons attended the return of the NPC at Ratheniska, Co Laois.

New accounts filed by The National Ploughing Association of Ireland show that revenues increased from €105,219 to €6.8 million in the 12 months to the end of January 2023.

The association recorded the pretax profits of €217,624 after receiving “other income” of €554,584, which was mainly comprised of a €500,000 Government grant.

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The “other income” gain was offset by a €621,602 writedown in the value of NPA investments.

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Commenting on the NPAI’s financial performance for the last year, assistant managing director Anna Marie McHugh said on Wednesday that the €500,000 “was a very specific once-off grant towards the costs of running the World Ploughing Contest”.

The World Ploughing Contest was due to be staged in Russia and it was moved a short notice to Ireland as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Ms McHugh said: “The NPA could not have hosted the world event without the grant and the grant would only have met some of the costs involved but at least it meant the event could happen and bring very significant revenue into the country at a crucial time.”

Ms McMugh said that the NPA recorded an operating loss of €72,000 on the National Ploughing Championship event from September 2022 itself.

Ms McHugh estimated that the operating losses from this year’s “Ploughing” will be “significantly higher” than in 2022 but said “fortunately the NPA has reserves and the event is at no risk”. At the end of December last, the company’s accumulated profits stood at €11.64 million.

Just more than 200,000 patrons attended the September, 2023 event in Ratheniska, down almost 90,000 down on the 2022 total.

Ms McHugh explained that revenue from gate receipts for 2023 “would be way down due to the exceptional bad weather in the few days leading in and during the event, resulting in attendance figures down approximately one third”.

Ms McHugh said that the NPA is a voluntary organisation with no shareholders. She said all of its revenue goes back into the association but pointed to the challenges linked to escalating costs.

NPAI accounts show that the company recorded a post-tax loss of €72,209 for 2022 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €289,833. Ms McHugh said this included “tax on investments”.

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan

Gordon Deegan is a contributor to The Irish Times

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