Daft.ie co-founder brothers share €15.37m dividend payout with others

The brothers behind Daft.ie have shared, with others, a dividend payout of €15.37 million this year from their online Distilled SCH group of companies, according to accounts just lodged. Distilled SCH Ltd operates the daft.ie, adverts.ie and donedeal.ie websites.

Pre-tax profits at the group increased 11 per cent to €4.52 million in 2020. The higher profits came despite a 4.5 per cent dip in revenues to €28.12 million.

A note attached to the accounts states that earlier this year the directors declared and paid a dividend of €15.376 million. Co-founders of Daft.ie, Brian and Eamonn Fallon, each have a 23.66 per cent share in the business.

Based on their shareholdings they would each have received a dividend of €3.63 million before tax as a result of that decision.

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Distilled SCH Ltd was only established in 2015 after Daft.ie operations, along with that of sister company adverts.ie, were merged with Norway-based Schibsted Media's Donedeal.ie

The deal saw Distilled and Schibsted each hold a 50 per cent shareholding in the group.

The Daft.ie property website was established in 1997 by the Fallons, who were aged just 20 and 15 at the time.

Distilled SCH Ltd received dividends of €8.6 million during 2020 from subsidiary undertakings and €7.2 million in 2019.

The directors said that since the end of last year Distilled SCH Ltd has received dividends of €5.12 million from Done Deal Ltd and €1.95 million from Daft Media Ltd.

On the impact of Covid-19 on the business, the directors said: “We experienced a decline in revenues over a number of months during 2020. However, current trends suggest that revenues are recovering.”

Numbers employed increased from 126 to 133 as staff costs declined by 4.4 per cent from €11.04 million to €10.55 million. Directors’ pay dipped marginally from €467,249 to €459,358.