Revenues at Rory McIlroy’s management and image rights firm last year surged by 37 per cent to $24.2 million (€20.2 million).
New accounts show that the Dublin-based Rory McIlroy Management Services Ltd last year recorded a pre-tax loss of $1 million after a non-cash write down of $18 million in the golfer’s image rights during the year in accordance with accountancy rules.
Cash generated by the company from operating activities after tax totalled $14.7 million for 2019.
The main activity of the company is managing royalty earnings and management fees for the golfer.
Royalty fees
Prize money and other such earnings are not part of the Irish company's revenue because they tend to be treated as income, and taxed accordingly by the country where the earnings are won.
On the US PGA tour in 2019, McIlroy recorded tour earnings of $7.7 million and this year McIlroy’s earnings on the Covid-19 disrupted US PGA tour earnings total $4.4 million.
The earnings for the McIlroy company from royalties and management fees last year increased by $6.56 million from $17.6 million to $24.2 million.
The directors of the company state that “income levels were in line with expectations”.
The company recorded an operating profit of $809,067 and interest payments of $1.8 million resulted in the pre-tax loss of $1.03 million, while its cash pile increased more than seven fold from $2.14 million to $15 million.
At the start of last year, the company had a $243 million book value placed on McIlroy’s image rights and it reduced to $225 million at the end of last year.
Director
Rory McIlroy became a member of the board in January of last year, and he joins his father, Gerry, Donal Casey and Sean O’Flaherty.
Last year, the pay to directors increased sharply from $1.99 million to $2.28 million.
At the end of last year the firm employed five made up of four directors and one in administration. Staff costs totalled $2.8 million.
The company trading as Rory McIlroy Inc, was established towards the end of 2013 by McIlroy.
The McIlroy company manages all the royalty payments from the golf star's various endorsements.
McIlroy works in many countries but opted to locate everything to do with his brand and intellectual property in Ireland by setting up the firm here as part of a strategy to simplify his business affairs.
In setting up the firm in the Republic, McIlroy spurned the route often taken by superstar sports personalities by creating a complex structure that would have located his management company in the United States while protecting his wealth with tax havens such as the Virgin Islands or Bermuda.
