U2's main Irish trading company has €870,000 loss

U2’S MAIN Irish-registered trading company lost €870,000 last year, according to its latest accounts.

U2 Ltd has filed accounts with the Companies Registration Office (CRO), showing that it made gross profits of €618,415 last year, compared with almost €4 million in 2007.

The company is owned by Not Us Ltd, which is in turned owned by the four band members, Bono (Paul Hewson), Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton and the Edge (David Evans).

Its turnover comes from protecting and licensing the band’s intellectual property, that is its music and videos. The accounts do not state if this turnover came just from Ireland, or elsewhere.

The band transferred large parts of its business to the Netherlands three years ago.

After administration charges of €1.4 million and a €32,000 write-down in the value of its music copyright, the company was left with operating losses of €870,667 last year, against a €1.1 million profit in 2007.

However, a provision of €791,140 for amounts owed by related businesses, and interest earnings, left it with pretax losses of €65,042.

The accounts show that its operations generated cash of €695,300, leaving the company with an overall increase in cash at the year’s end of €318,405.

Shareholders’ funds stood at €3 million on December 31, compared with €3.25 million 12 months earlier.

The band released a new album, No Line on the Horizon, this year, and began a world tour. Any impact that these activities might have on the company's fortunes will not be known until it files accounts for this year in 12 months.