Van Morrison firm sees accumulated profits rise to €9.24m

Accumulated profits at the music firm owned by Van Morrison last year increased to £8 million (€9.24 million).

New accounts by Morrison's Exile Productions Ltd show that accumulated profits increased by £440,322 from £7.653 million to £8.093 million in the 12 months to the end of April 2020.

The 75-year old singer-songwriter from Belfast has been making music for more than half a century but last year found himself at the centre of controversy over a series of songs and statements railing against Covid-19 lockdowns.

In August the singer urged people to “fight” what he called “the pseudoscience” around Covid-19, and a month later he released, at two-week intervals, a trio of tracks – Born to Be Free, As I Walked Out, and No More Lockdown – containing controversial lyrics.

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Earlier this year Morrison signalled his intention to challenge the Northern Ireland Executive in court over its “blanket ban” on live music in licensed venues arising from Covid-19 restrictions.

The company will have felt the full financial force of the Covid-19 restrictions in the financial year just completed on April 30th, which covered a full year of Covid-19 shutdowns.

However, the previous year was only affected by Covid-19 for a few weeks and the accounts just filed for Exile Productions show the cash pile at the company increased by £2.3 million to £8.456 million over the 12-month period.

Money owed to the firm by debtors decreased from £2.2 million to £1.1 million.

The abridged accounts do not reveal the revenue recorded during the year.

Mr Morrison is due to release his 42nd record this Friday, with gigs scheduled to take place at the London Palladium in early June.