Retailer still enjoying rub of the green

SELLING IRISH tourist-related paraphernalia continues to be a money spinner for retailer Carrolls of Dublin.

Latest accounts show that the company made an after-tax profit of €894,213 in the year to the end of November 2009.

That was bang in line with the previous year, which was a good performance given the recession and the steep decline in visitor numbers to this country last year.

Not that the company was totally immune to the effects of the downturn. Revenues declined by 8 per cent to €19.9 million

Carrolls sells everything from Irish soccer shirts for the FAI to leprechaun dolls, magnets and keyrings.

It has proved a lucrative business for the 28-year-old business, with the company cashing in the Celtic Tiger years.

Accumulated profits at the end of last year amounted to a healthy €10.6 million.

Carrolls also extended its footprint last year by opening a shop in Belfast to add to its eight Dublin stores.

Elsewhere in the capital,the Dermot Desmond-backed casino, The Sporting Emporium, appears to have stopped the bleed on its bottom line.

Latest accounts show that it had accumulated losses at the end of 2009 of €3.9 million – the same level as the previous year.

This indicates that the casino, located close to Grafton Street, traded at breakeven in 2009.

The casino was opened in 2005 by Desmond amid a blaze of publicity with the wealthy financier spending about €5.5 million on fitting out the facility.

Five years on, it looks as Desmond’s gamble might be about to pay off.