Pre-tax profits at the firm that operates Emerald Park last year slumped by 26% to €4.43m as the Co Meath visitor attraction counted the cost of a wet Irish summer in 2023.
New accounts filed by the Coyle family-owned Ashbourne Visitor Centre Ltd show that the business sustained the drop in profits as revenues declined by 5% from €27.43m to €25.99m.
The drop in revenues at the visitor attraction - formerly known as Tayto Park - arose from visitor numbers decreasing from 750,000 to 710,000 in 2023.
The slump in profits and revenues came ahead of the visitor attraction opening Europe's largest intertwining rollercoaster in May of this year at a cost of €22m, aimed at boosting visitor numbers.
The rides known as 'Na Fianna Force' and 'The Quest' along with another new ride called 'The Celtic Dreamer' form part on a new 6.5-acre section of the park called 'Tír Na nÓg'.
The project, which took seven years to complete, was started by the late founder of the park Raymond Coyle.
Mr Coyle’s son and company director, Charles manages the park and in an interview with the Irish Independent earlier this year to mark the opening on the new attraction, Charles Coyle said: "I will be extremely disappointed if we don’t get 850,000 or 860,000" in visitor numbers in 2024.
The construction of the roller-coaster coincided with the company last year paying out €11.99m to acquire tangible assets and this followed an outlay of €8.85m under the same heading in 2022.
The continuing investment in the park resulted in the book value of the company’s tangible assets rising from €46.7m to €55.16m last year.
The company’s profits for last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €3.37m and interest payment of €268,464 and the company’s earnings before interest, depreciation, amortisation and tax (EBITDA) totalled €8.1m compared to €9.48m in 2022.
In the directors’ report attached to the accounts, they state that they are satisfied with the company’s performance "given existing market conditions".
The directors say that the company faces challenges concerning competition and margin pressures.
They add that they are well placed to manage these risks "and are confident of continued growth".
Numbers employed by the company last year increased from 314 to 344 as staff costs rose from €7.65m to €8.13m.
The drop in revenues last year at Emerald Park supported the business case for the new roller-coasters as it stated that they were required "to safeguard the park’s future viability and its position as one of the country’s top attractions".
A document lodged with the rollercoaster planning application stated that international experience relating to theme parks illustrates that "there is a need to add new attractions every two to three years to maintain visitor numbers".
The company last year enjoyed a post tax profit of €3.8m after it incurred a corporation tax charge of €626,082.
Shareholder funds totalled €32.7m and the company’s cash funds reduced from €14.7m to €7.78m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
