The media company owned by TV presenter, Laura Whitmore enjoyed a 'Love Island' boost last year as post tax profits almost doubled to €364,577 for the year.
The doubling of profits for the 12 months to the end of March last at Whitmore's Yer Wan Ltd resulted in the company having accumulated profits of £1.19 million (€1.3 million) at year-end.
The bumper year for the company followed the Co Wicklow native securing one of the most high-profile TV presenting jobs in the UK to present Season 6 of Love Island last year.
The profits of £326,978 at the firm last year followed profits of £165,362 in the prior year - an increase of 97%. Cash reserves at Whitmore’s Yer Wan Ltd increased by 89% last year rising from £519,475 to £983,764 (€1.1 million).
Milestone year
Away from the cameras, 2020 was a milestone year in the personal life of the 35-year-old presenter.
Last month, Whitmore confirmed that she got married in a ‘secret’ wedding to boyfriend, Iain Stirling in Dublin in November while announcing that she is also due to give birth to the couple’s first child in “early 2021”.
The revenues for Whitmore's company - which employs one person - are not disclosed, but a note states that revenues represent fees for TV and broadcasting services.
One of Ireland’s most successful broadcasters operating abroad, Whitmore also presents a radio show on BBC Radio Five Live. The Dublin City University (DCU) graduate has also worked for Channel 4 and MTV in the UK.
Yer wan
Ms Whitmore changed the name of her company from Laura Whitmore Ltd to Yer Wan Ltd. The presenter’s Twitter profile, followed by over 440,600 people, refers to Whitmore as ‘Yer wan off the telly’.
As her celebrity status has increased over the past year due to her ‘Love Island’ work, Whitmore - always very protective over her personal life - has used her platform to show the reality of dealing with intrusive paparazzi and has also hit back at online trolls.
The £326,978 profit for last year is a six-fold increase on the profits of £56,576 for March 2018.
The 2020 profits are also a large increase on the profits of £139,998 fiscal 2017 and this followed profits increasing by £175,051 in fiscal 2016 and £131,879 in fiscal 2015.
The money owed to the company by debtors last year decreased from £399,371 to £396,285.
The strong performance by the company in recent years recorded by Whitmore’s firm reflects the Bray woman’s meteoric rise in the UK show business industry.
Underlining the rapid growth in wealth at the firm, at the end of March 2012, Whitmore’s firm’s accumulated profits stood at £20,648 with cash of £26,982 showing that her accumulated profits have soared since.
Whitmore studied journalism at DCU, where she edited a student magazine and worked as a researcher for Newstalk for a period. In 2008, Whitmore entered the Myspace/MTV Pick Me competition and beat off 3,000 other hopefuls to win a coveted MTV news role on the international music channel.
