Profits at bloodstock auctioneer Goffs surged more than 50 per cent to €3.6 million in the 12 months to the end of last March as racehorse sales broke records, new accounts show.
The news comes just weeks after the company hosted its flagship Orby sale at its headquarters at Kill in Co Kildare.
Accounts just lodged with the companies office show pretax profits at the business grew 55 per cent in the year to the end of March 31st, 2024 to €3.6 million. Post-tax profit was €2.9 million.
Robert J Goff & Co PLC’s figures show that turnover, made up mostly of the commission earned on the sale of horses, grew to €24 million during the year, up from €21.6 million in 2023.
Goffs this months hosted its Orby sale of elite-bred yearling thoroughbreds destined for careers at the highest level in flat racing.
Kerry Group founder Denis Brosnan’s Co Limerick breeding operation, Croom House, netted the top price at the sale, €2 million, for a colt fathered by former champion racehorse Frankel, to Dubai-controlled Godolphin.
Figures for this year’s Orby sale will be reflected in next year’s Goffs accounts.
Henry Beeby, Goffs chief executive, dubbed the financial year as “another record breaker” for the auction house, with the horses sold at its sales rings fetching more than €238 million in total.
“That was 11 per cent higher than the previous 12 months, which outperformed the preceding year by 18 per cent and set a new record in the company’s 157-year history,” he said in his report.
Last year’s Orby sale lured a large number of US buyers who spent more than €10 million, ensuring that the sale featured horses that went for six- and seven-figure sums.
Earlier in the financial year, Goffs hosted sales at Aintree on day one of the Grand National meeting and then Doncaster, where one horse went for £500,000 (€600,000), the highest ever achieved at that particular sale.
Closer to home, a record-breaking top price of €500,000 was paid for a horse at the Punchestown sale, held during the Irish track’s prestigious National Hunt Festival.
Chairwoman Eimear Mulhern said the company enjoyed a “very successful and vibrant year’s training returning a record turnover”.
Goffs runs 25 sales a year from 10 different locations, including in Ireland, Britain and France. The auction house sells horses for flat and jumps racing on behalf of its vendors in return for a commission.
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