Accumulated profits at the commercial firm owned by Irish rugby legend, Paul O’Connell reached a new high last year of €2.384m.
New accounts show that the Limerick man’s Nellcon Ltd's profits for 2020 increased three-fold on the prior period.
The company recorded a post tax profit of €183,358 in 2020 and this followed a post tax profit of €60,698 for the prior eight-month period.
The company’s cash pile last year increased from €1.64m to €2.36m. The company last year paid a dividend of €16,000.
The firm recorded the increase in post tax profits even as overall pay to directors, driven by pension contributions, last year soared.
The pay to directors in 2019 totalled €136,774 made up of €74,052 in remuneration and pension contributions of €62,722.
Last year, this increased to €256,296 and the bulk of that pay package was made up of pension contributions of €206,296 with the remaining €50,000 relating to pay.
The accounts show that the company recorded a loss of €101,090 on the disposal of investments.
The former Ireland captain returned to the professional game earlier this year when he was appointed forwards coach to the national rugby team.
The 42-year old iconic figure of world and Irish rugby retired from the game in 2016 after sustaining a severe hamstring injury in the 2015 World Cup game against France.
O’Connell was a talisman for Munster and Ireland for over a decade and won his 100th cap against Wales in March 2015 before winning a further eight caps to bring his total to 108 caps.
Separate accounts lodged by a firm owned by O'Connell's former Munster and Ireland team-mate, Simon Zebo show that accumulated profits last year increased by €89,729 from €450,652 to €540,381.
The Cork man has returned to play to Munster this season after a spell with Paris team, Racing 92 and the
The accounts for Zebo’s Left Wing Productions for the 12 months to the end of March 2021 show that the company’s cash pile increased from €330,479 to €522,844.
