By Gordon Deegan
Irish singing legend, Christy Moore hit the right notes last year with his music firm’s accumulated profits going over the €1m mark.
The Kildare man may be an ‘ordinary man’ but there is no sign of his extraordinary career in the music business slowing down.
This weekend, Moore will be playing two ‘sold-out’ gigs at Ratoath while upcoming gigs at the Mermaid Centre in Bray, Leisureland in Galway and the Pavillon Theatre in Dun Laoghaire also have the ‘sold out’ sign as part of a busy Summer-Autumn touring schedule in Ireland and the UK.
Now, new accounts show that the 73 year old singer-singer’s music firm recorded profits of €152,271 in the 12 months to the end of March this year.
This followed a loss of €341,730 at Moore’s Yellow Furze Music in the prior year but the loss arose that yearfrom Moore ploughing €600,000 into the directors’ pension pot as he plans for his eventual retirement.
The principal activity of the company is the sale of music performances and recordings by Christy Moore and the accounts show that accumulated profits increased from €901,144 to €1.053m.
During the same period, the company’s cash pile increased more than €250,000 going from €542,932 to €794,854.
One of the highlights of the year was Christy playing a number of songs from his vast repertoire to hundreds of thousands of TV viewers in a Late Late Show tribute to him last November.
The company’s revenues were boosted during the year with sales of ‘On the Road’.
The performer– who has been entertaining audiences in Ireland and the UK across the past five decades – is best known for his ‘Ride On’ and ‘I’m An Ordinary Man’ anthems.
Pay to directors last year decreased marginally going down from €171,806 to €170,553.
In a recent message to his fans on his website, Christy said: “All in all, 2017 was quite a busy year.”
Showing that his creative energy is still in full flow, Moore said: “I have various recording plans in mind – about five different albums wrestling in my head, but one is already in preparation and may see the light of day in the Autumn.”
Moore is also well known as a founding member of Moving Hearts and Planxty and the accounts show that Yellow Furze Music Ltd has rights that generate royalty income – the figures show that the firm has unidentified intangible asset valued at €346,155.
Company figures show that the wealth of the firm has increased in recent years - its accumulated profits has grown from €524,172 to €1m over the past number of years.
More than 50 years after going on in the road, the folk singer’s concerts in Ireland and the UK continue to be sell-outs.
