Pretax profits at the global technology company that decides questionable points in top GAA games at Croke Park this year declined by 12.4 per cent to £16.99 million (€19.62m).
New accounts for England-based Hawk Eye Innovations Ltd show that the business recorded the profit decline as revenues increased by 4 per cent from £59.8 million to £62 million in the 12 months to the end of March this year.
The Hawk-Eye score detection system was at the centre of Irish controversy during the summer of 2022 after it erroneously denied Galway’s Shane Walsh a point during the first half of the All-Ireland football semi-final against Derry. The decision was reversed at half time after replays indicated that his shot had clearly gone between the posts. A report provided to the GAA found that “a combination of unrelated issues, including minor hardware failures”, led to the mistake.
The GAA suspended the use of Hawk-Eye for the Galway v Limerick All-Ireland hurling semi final and the Dublin v Kerry All-Ireland football semi-final that year before restoring it for the Limerick v Kilkenny All-Ireland hurling final.
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The latest accounts for the Sony-owned technology provider show that revenues for ‘the UK and Ireland’ last year increased from £13.7 million to £16.2 million.
Europe is the company’s largest market, with European revenues totalling £33.7 million or 54 per cent of total revenues last year. Globally Hawk Eye Innovations generates the bulk of its revenue from soccer, which accounts for 74 per cent of overall revenues.
Income from GAA operations represents only a small fraction of the company’s overall revenues and is included in the accounts under “other sports”, where sales increased from £1.63 million to £1.96 million.
