Rory McIlroy firm records pre-tax loss of $105m

Irish golfer Rory McIlroy’s management and image rights firm last year recorded a pre-tax loss of $105.4 million (€88.3 million).

The paper loss stems from a non-cash write-down of $99 million in the value of McIlroy’s lifetime image rights.

The golfer is unlikely to be too perturbed with the loss by his firm with Forbes magazine last year estimating that McIlroy earned $42.5 million in 2016, broken down between $35 million from endorsements and $7.6 million in winnings.

Currently, Mcllroy is taking a break from the sport having battled with injury for much of the year and will return to play on January 25th.

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The figures show that revenues at Rory McIlroy Management Services (RMMS) last year totalled $21.7 million - or $418,269 per week.

Revenues at the company declined by 15 per cent from $25 million.

Explaining the write-down, a spokeswoman for the four time major winner said yesterday: “RMMS own and manage Rory’s lifetime image rights. Each year, the directors review the value of these rights. The value the directors assign fluctuates in line with changes in Rory’s operating environment.”

On the write-down the directors state that it occurred following their assessment of the possible impairment of the company’s trademarks and intellectual property rights at year end.

The main activity of the company is managing of royalty earnings and management fees for the golfer.

The directors of the company state that “income levels were in line with expectations”.

The company’s cash pile almost doubled during the year going from $3.83 million to $6.7 million.

At the start of last year, the company had a massive $400 million book value placed on McIlroy’s image rights and it reduced to $280 million at the end of last year.

This was through a combination of the $99 million write-down and non-cash amortisation costs of $21 million.

The value of the McIlroy brand is underlined by the fact that it persuaded the likes of Nike to enter a reported $250 million 10 year deal with the 28 year old.

The firm last year paid $2.1 million in corporation tax. The firm employed six, including three directors, with staff costs totalling $1.85 million. Directors’ remuneration increased from $676,447 to $711,141.

The firm generated its $21 million in income from royalties and management fees.