Wards book €18 million gain on Cork cinema disposal

The Ward family, which owns cinemas including the Savoy and the Screen in Dublin, booked a gain of more than €18 million last year when they sold their interest in a Cork multiplex to the Anderson family, who were partners of the Wards before a bitter legal split last year.

The Wards agreed to pay the Andersons almost €2.3 million for their 25 per cent share of City Cinemas, as part of the overall settlement agreed between the parties.

The figures emerged last week in accounts filed by the Dublin Cinema Group (DCG), the company that was at the centre of the split. DCG is now under the control of the Wards.

It recorded a gross profit of €2.4 million for 2013, down from €2.56 million the previous year, according to its accounts. After expenses it cleared profits of about €300,000, before a gain of €18.2 million on the Cork disposal.

DCG’s shareholders funds now stand at more than €40.5 million.

The Wards and Andersons controlled about half of the Irish cinema market between them until they went their separate ways in 2013, with DCG the linchpin of their combined operations.

Leo Ward and Kevin Anderson, who were half-brothers, first went into business together in the 1940s. The extended families fell out over plans by the Andersons to open a new cinema in Dublin to compete with their joint operations.

The settlement saw the Wards, who now operate mainly under the IMC banner, take full control of the Savoy, the Screen, a cinema in Tullamore and another in Santry.

The Andersons took control of the 13-screen Omniplex in Cork and now operate a chain of about 25 cinemas in Ireland under the Omniplex banner.

The Andersons have ramped up their activities in recent months, agreeing in April to buy the Odyssey Pavillion in Belfast from an administrator for less than £10 million.

The family told The Irish Times at the time of the transaction that they would invest "a multiple" of the sale price in a revamp of its operations.

The Wards have also invested heavily in their operations in recent years under the IMC banner.

Their 13-screen outlet in the Square shopping centre in Tallaght reopened in 2012 after an investment of more than €6 million.

The cinema had been closed for almost two years prior to this.