Cash at Westlife’s firm grows five-fold in 2010

 

 CASH held by the main entertainment company owned by chart-topping boy band Westlife increased five-fold last year to €450,069, new figures show.

Accounts just filed by Bluenet Ltd with the Companies Registration Office show that the firm’s accumulated profits more than doubled from €20,073 to €49,448 in the 12 months to the end of October.

The Limerick-based company is entirely owned by band members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan.

The firm’s auditors, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, confirm that the company was in profit during the year, and the upsurge in the company’s business coincided with the release of the group’s multi-platinum Where We Are album.

Revenues were also generated from the band’s 36-date Where We Are tour, which included a sell-out gig in Dublin’s Croke Park last year.

The four-piece band are next month performing concerts in South Africa and Asia as part of their 2011 Gravity Tour.

The figures for Bluenet Ltd show that the company derives its revenue from tour income, including live performance, merchandising income, tour fee income and recording royalty income.

The abridged returns do not provide figures for turnover, pre-tax profits or any dividends.

Underlining the company’s increased business during the year, the company owed €395,330 in PAYE income tax compared to €31,814 the previous year.

The figures show that cash held by the firm increased from €89,071 to €450,069 during the year.

The company’s debtors also increased three-fold from €300,824 to €1m during the year. Creditors to the firm also increased significant during the year.

The company’s other director is financial adviser, Alan McEvoy who also sits on the board of singer, Ronan Keating’s company, Entourage Management Agency Ltd.

Separate returns just filed by another Westlife company, Blacknight Ltd, which generates revenues from performance-related broadcast licence income, also recorded a profit last year, according to the firm’s auditors. The abridged accounts show that there was an increase in accumulated profits from €4,338 to €6,054.

Separate accounts filed by the company Brill Management Ltd operated by Westlife’s manager, Louis Walsh, show that the company also enjoyed a buoyant year in 2010.

The figures show that the firm’s accumulated profits increased from €10,666 to €259,051 in the 12 months to the end of November. The company had €440,835 in cash at the end of the year.