Setanta Media Holdings, the Web and mobile business, has recorded a pre-tax loss of €31,863, but its directors are confident it can become profitable in the short term.
The business is one of several Setanta Media companies run and owned by directors Mr Leonard Ryan and Mr Michael O'Rourke.
The accounts show the mainly SMS and Web-based business was the subject of a €1.1 million investment in the period under review, the year to November 30th, 2002. The company had net current liabilities of €1.09 million.
Setanta operates several media businesses, some involved in sports rights, others in outdoor entertainment like big screens and one in pay-per-view television.
Mr Ryan and Mr O'Rourke are also shareholders in the Dublin talk station NewsTalk 106.
This year Setanta Sports (Ireland), the main Setanta company, was nominated for the Entrepreneur of the Year award.
According to the accounts for Setanta Media Holdings, the business had accumulated losses in excess of €30,000.
However, a spokesman for the company said the losses were small considering the business operated in the highly risky area of web and SMS based technologies.
"We have put fresh investment into and reduced the loss making elements of the business, so we are confident going forward we can make it profitable," said the spokesman.
The business runs the well -known sports Web portal setanta.com and also offers a range of mobile services, including football results and news.
Among the companies Setanta Media Holdings works with is Vodafone. The two shareholders are Mr O'Rourke and Mr Ryan, but they are also joined by Indigo Holdings, a channel islands company which has a small shareholding.
According to returns at the Companies Office, there are at least eight Setanta-related companies. This reflects the wide range of media and sports-related activities the company is involved in. The two directors, who own more than 80 per cent of the equity in the companies, deny they are too broadly based.
The company was founded 13 years ago when Ireland participated in Italia '90.
The two men were working in London during that period and discovered that Irish fans could not access the games. They managed to provide access for thousands of Irish in London and realised there were very few companies providing sports to ex-pat communities in Britain and the US.
Setanta is hoping to generate serious revenue via its new US-focused business North American Sports Network (NASN). This network shows baseball, bastketball and car racing to Americans sports fans living in Ireland and Britain. Setanta hopes to introduce it in Europe over the next few years.
