The O’Neill’s sports brand is looking overseas to increase revenues after taking a 15 per cent hit to GAA replica jersey income due to the condensed All-Ireland Championships.
Finance Director at O’Neills, Paul Towell, said that the company plans to further increase sales in Australia and the UK due to the impact the shortened inter-county GAA season is having on domestic sales.
Mr Towell said that the brand is losing out on six weeks of GAA jersey sales due to the GAA decision to stage the All-Ireland finals in late July and early August.
He said: "Everything is being rushed now - that is the problem. We have the same commitment to the counties but we have six weeks less to sell the replica jerseys.”
Mr Towell made his remarks when commenting on new accounts for Balbriggan Textiles Ltd which show that pre-tax profits last year increased by 21.5 per cent to €1.9 million.
This followed gross profits increasing by 13 per cent to €13.25 million.
Mr Towell said that the six-week loss of GAA jersey replica shirt sales “outside of an 18-week long All-Ireland championship so it is having an impact”.
Mr Towell said that the best-selling county jersey in 2024 was ‘far and away’ the jersey for senior All-Ireland hurling champions, Clare, followed by Cork.
He said that the best-selling county jersey for 2023 was Limerick, as the hurlers won four All-Irelands in a row.
Mr Towell said that overall sales increased last year despite the drop in GAA jersey replica sales.
He said that O’Neill’s revenues in Australia in the last five years have doubled as the company has expanded overseas to compensate for the impact of the condensed GAA season.
Mr Towell said that the company’s replica jersey for the Australian rugby league team, the Penrith Panthers, is amongst the top five selling jerseys.
Mr Towell said that O’Neills employs 1,050 here north and south, and he said: “We need to keep expanding our markets to keep production levels up.”
Mr Towell said that “we are looking outside Ireland as much as we can”.
The directors’ report for Balbriggan Textiles states that the return of consumers to the high street post Covid-19 has led to a 19pc increase in revenues in 2023,
They state that gross profit margin decreased slightly on the prior year “due to significant inflation in raw material, packaging and distribution costs”.
They state that they are satisfied with the result of the group "in what has been a challenging year”.
Numbers employed increased by nine to 135 and staff costs totalled €5.56 million.
Accumulated profits totalled €24.7 million as cash funds decreased from €6.49 million to €5 million.
Mr Towell said that he did not think the retail price of O’Neill replica county jerseys is an issue.
He said: “They are much cheaper than soccer jerseys and soccer clubs change their jerseys every year."
