Riverdance duo share in €5.74m directors' pay

John McColgan and Moya Doherty drew multimillion euro salaries from their Riverdance business again in 2004, according to accounts just filed.

The accounts also show that, in 2003, the duo took €9 million out of their former investment in Today FM, previously Radio Ireland, by way of a share redemption.

Abhann Productions, the main company in the Riverdance group, made a pre-tax profit of €1.05 million in the year to end June 2004. The directors' remuneration during the year, including pension payments, was €5.74 million.

The directors of Abhann are: Mr McColgan; Ms Doherty; Padraig Wynne; Joan Egan; and Julian Erskine. The shareholders are Mr McColgan and Ms Doherty.

A similar level of directors' remuneration was paid in 2003.

Turnover for Abhann was €35.5 million, up from €28.29 million the previous year. In 2003 the company returned a pretax loss of €3.21 million. Accumulated profits at the end of 2004 were €11.97 million.

The rise in revenue in 2004 bucked the trend of recent years when the turnover from the Riverdance operation has been falling, having been €57.6 million in 2001.

Directors' remuneration has been consistently high, hitting €9.78 million and €12.9 million in 2002 and 2001 respectively.

The accounts of a substantial subsidiary, investment company Full Shilling Investments Ltd (FSIL), were not included in the accounts of Abhann Productions as FSIL's activities were so different to those of its parent, according to notes in the Abhann accounts.

The accounts for FSIL for the year to end June 2004 showed a slight increase in that company's accumulated profits, to €4.53 million from €4.49 million.

Notes to the accounts state that, as part of the reorganisation of the Riverdance group in 2003, FSIL acquired a shareholding in Mickletune, a company controlled by Mr McColgan and Ms Doherty and the shares were then redeemed, giving rise to a charge of €9 million.

This is understood to related to a former shareholding in Today FM.

The accounts state the company has listed investments with a market value at year end of €1.87 million.

FSIL was struck off by the Companies Registration Office (CRO) during the week for the non-filing of accounts, although the accounts had in fact been filed in June.

The company has received an apology from the CRO, which located the accounts after The Irish Times contacted FSIL to ask about its being struck off, and the company in turn got in contact with the CRO.

The notes to the accounts for FSIL for 2003 note that the disposal the previous year of its stake in Radio Ireland Ltd, created a profit of €16.39 million, and a related tax charge of €2.75 million.

Turnover for the Riverdance operation came from Europe (€12.2 million), North America (€12.9 million) and Asia (€7.37 million), according to the Abhann accounts.

The accounts said the average number of employees, including executive directors, was 31. Employment costs, including executive directors, was €1.98 million.

The accounts show that subsidiary company Abhann Productions Incorporated had negative reserves of €4.18 million at the end of September 2003.