The arrival of US buyers and the return of a key sale to its Co Kildare base boosted profits at bloodstock dealer Goffs to a record €4.46 million this year.
Turnover at racehorse auctioneer Robert J Goff & Co plc rose more than 60 per cent in the 12 months ended March 31st, 2022 to €18.9 million from €11.5 million over the previous year.
Pretax profits hit €4.46 million — a record, according to chief executive Henry Beeby — from €1.2 million over the 12 months to March 2021, a period marred by Covid lockdowns.
Horses auctioned at Goffs’ sales over the 12-month period made a total of €181 million for their vendors, the highest in the company’s history, according to Mr Beeby’s report.
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This was despite the fact that Covid restrictions meant it could not hold its regular sale at the Aintree Grand National meeting in 2021 while it had to limit its auction at the Punchestown Festival the same year to a reduced online version.
Mr Beeby said last year’s Orby sale, where the firm auctions expensively-bred yearlings destined to compete in elite flat races, characterised the “low of 2020 and the high of 2021″.
Goffs moved the 2020 version to Doncaster, which its chief executive’s report acknowledges was little short of disastrous.
“However, Orby 21 was back where it belonged at the top table of European yearling sales, with seven-figure top prices, a six-figure average and a stunning 91 per cent clearance,” Mr Beeby said.
An influx of US buyers and the return of the sale to Goffs’ Johnstown, Co Kildare HQ boosted the sale, according to the auctioneer.
The results come just weeks after this year’s Orby sale, where the highest-priced horse sold for €2.6 million and the aggregate topped €50 million.
Other highlights of Goffs’ 2022 financial year included the company running the Middle East’s first-ever breeze-up sale — for horses ready to enter training and race — on behalf of the Dubai Racing Club.
