The Irish arm of Mike Ashley's Sports Direct and BrandMax stores last year plunged into the red to record pre-tax losses of €19.49m.
New accounts filed by Heatons Unlimited Company show that the business recorded the €19.49m pre-tax loss as a result of an onerous lease non-cash provision of €26m.
The directors state that the provision was made due to the challenging trading conditions for the year and envisaged to continue into the future.
Sales at the business reduced by 9.6% from €200.9m to €181.6m in the 12 months to the end of April 28th last year.
The SportsDirect group is led by Newcastle Utd owner, Mike Ashley, and the numbers employed here last year reduced from 1,519 to 1,425.
The drop in employee numbers here last year contributed to staff costs decreasing by 9% from €37.99m to €34.63m.
On the impact on Covid 19 on operations, the directors state that while they have determined a significant impact on budgeted revenues and operating margins for two quarters due to the closure of operations "we have not determined that there will be a long term financial impact of these events on our results of operations, cash flows and financial conditions, particularly in the light of ongoing support from our controlling party".
On the company’s future developments, the directors state that "retail trading conditions proved challenging during the year and the directors are of the view that these challenges will continue into the coming year".
"With the challenging trading conditions in mind, the company has set a clear vision and strategy for the future and will need to assess trading conditions on an ongoing basis and make whatever decisions are deemed necessary to safeguard the future of the company," they say.
The pre-tax loss of €19.49m last year takes account of a €9.4m profit recorded on the sale of a property and other income of €2.17m.
The loss also also takes account of a sharp increase in non-cash depreciation costs rising from €11.1m to €15.19m.
The company's lease costs last year remains static at €11.4m.
The onerous lease provision last year of €26.83m followed an onerous lease provision of €3.7m in 2018.
The company recorded a post tax loss of €18.6m after recorded a corporate tax credit of €1m.
The company paid a dividend of €115,408. Directors’ pay totaled €565,615.
At the end of April 2019, the company’s accumulated profits totaled €32.5m.
The company’s cash funds reduced from €12.18m to €10m.
