The Live Nation operator of the 3Arena in Dublin recorded pre-tax profits of €15.82m in 2022 on the back of sell out shows by Robbie Williams, Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa.
New accounts filed by Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd show that the business recorded the pre-tax profits after revenues increased six fold rising from €4.79m to €31.06m in 2022, as music fans flocked back to the arena as part of the post Covid-19 business recovery.
The accounts disclose that in a post balance sheet event, Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd last year paid out a €14.5m dividend to its immediate parent, Live Nation Ireland Holdings Ltd after recording the 2022 profits.
The 3Arena achieved the revenues after the number of patrons attending the Dublin venue increased 11 fold from 87,408 in 2021 to 977,025 in 2022.
This followed the number of shows increasing from 14 events during the Covid-19 hit 2021 to 121 in 2022.
Revenues for 2023 will be even higher with US trade journal, Pollstar, figures showing that 2023 box office revenues at the 3Arena increased by 50% to a bumper €74.02m. Box office receipts are shared between performer, promoter, ticket seller and venue operator.
In their report, the directors for the Amphitheatre Ireland firm state that the company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2022 totalled €17.1m compared to €700,000 in 2021.
The company in 2022 recorded an operating profit of €15.28m and interest payments received of €530,465 increased the company’s profits to a pre-tax profit of €15.82m.
The pre-tax profit followed a pre-tax loss of €655,156 in 2021 which was due to the impact of Covid0-19 on the live entertainment industry.
The arena firm recorded a post tax profit of €14.04m in 2022 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.77m.
The profits take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.79m while administrative expenses increased from €3.76m to €11.78m.
The venue received Government grants of €109,215 in 2022 and €528,920 in 2021.
A note states that the 2022 Government grant income relates to grants received from the Live Performance Restart Grant Scheme funded by the Dept of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Numbers employed increased from 30 to 39 as staff costs rose from €875,744 to €2.3m.
The directors state that the company has considerable financial resources and forecasts project that it will trade profitably into the future.
At the end of December 2022, the firm had shareholder funds of €72.73m that included accumulated profits of €56.3m. The company’s cash funds increased sharply from €2.72m to €13.66m.
The Pollstar 2022 figures for the 3Arena show that it recorded box office revenues of €49.2m from November 2021 to November 2022 and the most lucrative string of gigs at the venue were performed by Robbie Williams, Billie Eilish, Andrea Bocelli, Kendrick Lamar and Andre Rieu.
Fans of Robbie Williams stumped up €92 per ticket on average for his three gigs with the 'Rock DJ’ artist averaging over €1m at the box office for the three nights where 34,529 fans attended.
In 2022, the 3Arena was ranked the 37th highest grossing arena in the world before surging up 16 places in the global Pollstar rankings to be the 21st highest grossing arena worldwide in 2023.
