The insurance bill for the Irish arm of Foot Locker, one of the well known global retail brands that suffered looting in the November 2023 Dublin riots, increased almost five fold to €216,563.
The US-headquartered Foot Locker operates seven stores here including its Lower O'Connell Street outlet where footage was broadcast of looters entering the outlet on the night of the riots of November 23, 2023.
New accounts show that despite the 369% increase in insurance costs in 2023, Foot Locker Retail Ireland Ltd reduced its pre-tax losses by 46% to €62,000.
The operator of the seven stores here, Foot Locker Retail Ireland Ltd, reduced its pre-tax losses as revenues increased by 14% from €11.54m to €13.17m.
The company's outlets here are located on Lower O’Connell Street, Grafton Street, Blanchardstown Upper Mall, The Square, the Ilac Centre on Henry Street and the Pavilions Shopping Centre in Swords, Co Dublin along with one outlet in Limerick.
The business sells the best known shoe brands including Adidas, Nike, Converse and Puma.
The directors state that they are satisfied with the results for the year.
The new accounts show that the company's insurance spend increased from €46,968 in 2022 to €216,563 last year. The firm's HR costs also surged from €824,067 to €1.27m.
Security costs at the firm last year increased from €73,429 to €94,880 and its rates and levies bill soared from €104,379 to €344,366.
"Occupancy costs" for the company’s stores increased from €2.17m to €2.94m and "other store-related costs" increased from €52,610 to €75,481.
The accounts show that the pre-tax loss of €62,000 takes account of combined non-cash amortisation and depreciation costs of €572,000.
Numbers employed by Footlocker last year increased from 23 to 30 and wage costs increased from €1.18m to €1.54m.
The company’s marketing spend last year increased from €253,974 to €298,566.
There was a sharp decrease in professional fees declining from €439,161 to €106,746.
At the end of December last the firm had shareholders' equity of €7.5m made up of a capital contribution of €11.65m offset by accumulated losses of €4.98m.
The company’s cash funds decreased from €3.58m to €356,000.
Globally last year, Foot Locker recorded revenues of $8.15 billion.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
