The firm which operates the National Ploughing Championship returned to pre-tax profit last year of €217,624 after incurring combined losses of €1.25m during the two Covid-19 impacted years of 2021 and 2020.
In September of last year, 290,000 patrons attended the return of the NPC at Ratheniska, Co Laois after organisers had to cancel the 2020 and 2021 events due to pandemic restrictions.
New accounts filed by The National Ploughing Association of Ireland show that revenues increased 64 fold from €105,219 to €6.76m in the 12 months to the end of January this year.
The association recorded the pre-tax profits of €217,624 after receiving 'other income' of €554,584 which was mainly made up of a €500,000 Government grant.
The 'other income' gain was offset by a €621,602 write-down in the value of NPA investments.
Commenting on the financial performance in the 12 months to the end of January 2023, NPAI Assistant Managing Director, Anna Marie McHugh said on Wednesday that the €500,000 "was a very specific once off grant towards the costs of running the World Ploughing Contest".
The World Ploughing Contest was due to be staged in Russia and it was moved a short notice to Ireland as a result of the war in Ukraine.
"The NPA could not have hosted the world event without the grant and the grant would only have met some of the costs involved but at least it meant the event could happen and bring very significant revenue into the country at a crucial time," Ms McHugh said.
She said that the NPA recorded an operating loss of €72,000 on the National Ploughing Championship event itself from September 2022.
Ms McHugh estimates that the operating losses from this year's 'Ploughing’ will be "significantly higher" than 2022 "but fortunately the NPA has reserves and the event is at no risk". At the end of December last, the company’s accumulated profits stood at €11.64m.
Just over 200,000 patrons attended the September event in Ratheniska which was almost 90,000 down on the 2022 total.
Ms McHugh explained that revenue from gate receipts for 2023 "would be way down due to the exceptional bad weather in the few days lead in and during the event resulting in attendance figures down approximately one third".
"Inflation and cost increases have had a huge impact on the ‘Ploughing’. We introduced a small increase in exhibition rates in 2022 to meet, as we thought, price increases post Covid but that additional revenue has been completely wiped out with the increase in costs."
Ms McHugh said that the NPA "is a voluntary organisation with no shareholders and all our revenue goes right back into the Association. However the escalating costs of running an event means that it is very challenging".
The accounts show that the company recorded a post tax loss of €72,209 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €289,833 and Ms McHugh said that this included "tax on investments". Staff numbers last year more than doubled from seven to 18.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
