The Aviva Stadium company recorded operating profits of €6.58m last year.
New accounts filed by New Stadium DAC - jointly owned by the IRFU and the FAI - show that the operating profits of €6.58m last year were down €1.4m or 17.5% on the €7.97m operating profits for 2022.
The decline in operating profits coincided with the Aviva not hosting any major concerts last year in contrast to 2022 when Harry Styles and Westlife performed to sell out crowds at the venue.
The 2022 gigs delivered $18m in box office receipts from selling 185,539 tickets according to figures from Pollstar.
The Aviva will top that by some margin during a bumper 2024 Summer when Taylor Swift brings here The Eras tour for three nights to the Aviva at the end of June while Pink is also pencilled in for two dates next month.
Last August, revenues for the Aviva Stadium firm were boosted by the American college football game featuring the Navy Midshipmen and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The new accounts show that operating profits were down despite the stadium generating €8m in licence fees from the IRFU and the FAI which was an increase of 13% on the €7.1m paid out by the two sporting bodies in 2022.
The sporting entities pay the fees to New Stadium DAC for matches staged at the Aviva which also generates income from catering contracts while a sizeable chunk of the company's revenues would come from naming rights for the stadium.
In 2010, Aviva bought the naming rights for a reported €40m over 10 years - or €4m a year - and extended the deal in 2018 to 2025.
The deal agreed in 2018 came into effect in 2020 and a note attached to the New Stadium accounts states that the company’s share of its naming rights income is released to the profit and loss account each year.
Last year, New Stadium Ltd again paid out no dividend to its shareholders.
The stadium company recorded a pre-tax loss of €3.15m which was more than double the pre-tax loss of €1.29m for 2022.
The pre-tax loss last year takes account of hefty non-cash depreciation costs of €9.7m.
The company pays the IRFU €750,000 each year for the rent of the stadium land.
The number of employees employed by the stadium firm increased by one to 18 while staff costs increased from €1.7m to €1.8m.
The accounts were signed off by the CEO of the IRFU, Kevin Potts, and interim FAI CEO, David Courell, on May 13.
The firm's shareholder funds stood at €143.57m made up of a share premium of €58.1m, capital contribution of €134.37m and accumulated losses of €48.9m.
Its cash funds decreased to €4.45m to €3.13m
The company’s fixed assets had a book value of €283.56m at year end.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
