A company owned by the founders of daft.ie, Eamonn and Brian Fallon, last year shared a pre-tax dividend of €7.44 million.
The dividend payout to the Fallons' DML Capital Ltd was part of an overall €19.49 million dividend paid out to shareholders by Distilled Ltd which operates adverts.ie, daft.ie, gumtree.ie and donedeal.ie.
The group made the dividend payout last year as the Distilled group’s pre-tax profits increased by 13% to €9.49 million.
New accounts filed by Distilled Ltd show that the online business enjoyed the surge in profits as revenues increased by 9% from €33.76 million to €36.67 million in 2022.
The pre-tax profits of €9.49 million last year follow pre-tax profits of €8.4 million in 2021.
The daft.ie property website was established in 1997 by Eamonn and Brian Fallon. They own DML Capital Ltd on a 50/50 basis.
DML Capital received a dividend of €5.87 million in 2021.
Distilled Ltd was established in 2015 after the operations of daft.ie along with that of sister company, adverts.ie, were merged with Norway based Schibsted Media’s Donedeal.ie.
The deal provided Distilled and Schibsted each with a 50% shareholding in the group.
The overall dividend payout of €19.49 million followed a dividend payout of €15.37 million in 2021.
Details of the dividend payouts show that the Norwegian owned Adevinta Classified Media Ireland Limited received dividends of €9.7 million in 2022.
Also included in the €19.49 million dividend payout was a €1.94 million payout to the directors of Distilled Ltd while TNK Associates received €343,728 and 'A' ordinary shareholders received a modest dividend of €40,561.
A statement from Distilled says that adverts.ie consolidated its position as the nation's leader in second-hand goods and continued to thrive in 2022, recording a steady 34% growth increase in ads placed compared to pre-Covid levels.
The Distilled figures show that adverts.ie has continued to steadily add over 250,000 new ads every month.
The group further stated that DoneDeal Motors, an online automotive marketplace on DoneDeal.ie, ascended to become Ireland's leading motor site in 2022.
Distilled also said that daft.ie recorded a "robust 7% year-on-year increase" in residential property sales volumes in 2022 versus 2021, helped by growth in new homes completions.
"Distilled is committed to continuous technological innovation, with an annual investment of €8 million in research, development and technology," a company spokeswoman said.
The Distilled group business last year recorded post tax profit of €7.5 million after paying corporation tax of €1.96 million.
Numbers employed increased by six to 140 as staff costs increased by 7% from €11.74 million to €12.59 million.
The workforce today has grown to over 150 personnel.
Directors’ pay in 2022 totalled €636,154.
The company’s operating lease charges totalled €950,421. The profit last year takes account of non-cash amortisation costs of €6.09 million last year and restructuring costs of €55,000.
The group’s shareholder funds totalled €84.69 million and cash funds decreased from €14.85 million to €8.695 million.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
