Online ticket agent Tickets.ie faces liquidation after the business ceased trading suddenly this week. The business sold tickets online mostly for independent music festivals and other events.
A notice on its website states: “Oshi Software Ltd, trading as Tickets.ie, has ceased trading”.
It adds that the directors are taking steps to place the company in liquidation and to appoint a liquidator to the business. “The winding up is being conducted in accordance with the Companies Acts,” it says.
The statement advises that all enquiries should be directed to the liquidator, whose details will be published once the company appoints them.
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“Customers with tickets for upcoming events should wait to hear from the relevant event promoter directly regarding their event,” the statement says.
Tickets.ie has been in business since 2004. Its biggest shareholder, publicly-quoted German company, DEAG Entertainment Group, did not respond to a request for comment or other questions put to it on Wednesday.
The Frankfurt stock exchange-listed group bought a majority stake in Tickets.ie in September 2022 when the Irish company sought rescue after prolonged Government Covid restrictions shot down the entertainment industry.
Oshi Software/Tickets.ie was one of the first businesses to use the new Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp) passed into law earlier that year to aid small companies hit by Covid curbs.
According to reports at the time, founder and managing director John O’Neill retained a minority shareholding in the business after the rescue.
DEAG bought the Irish business through a British subsidiary, MyTicket Services, in a deal finalised on September 30th, 2022.
Company filings show that MyTicket loaned €274,700 to Oshi in 2022 and undertook not to seek its repayment until the Irish business had enough funds to meet the liability.
Oshi had a shortfall of €368,000 at the end of that year, including the debt owed to MyTicket Services, according to its balance sheet.
The accounts note that loans to AIB and State development agency Enterprise Ireland were settled as a result of the rescue deal.
The business has not filed annual returns covering subsequent years.
Oshi’s main shareholder DEAG (Deutsche Entertainment AG) boosted revenues by one-third last year to €490 million and more than doubled cash generation to €32 million, according to accounts published at the end of April.
By April 28th this year, advance ticket sales for events in 2026 had reached three million, locking in more than €150 million revenue for this year.
Tours by Judas Priest, Gorillaz and Deep Purple, as well as the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring in Concert, feature among the events it is promoting and for which it is selling tickets this year.
