Accumulated profits at the firm behind Eamon Dunphy’s The Stand podcast last year surged to €336,006 – just days before Dunphy pressed pause on the podcast project.
New accounts show that Dunphy’s Pepperwort Ltd recorded post tax profits of €74,811 in 2024 – which was down 28.5% on the post tax profits of €108,963 for 2023.
The profits for last year resulted in the company having accumulated profits of €336,106 on December 31st and only seven days later, Dunphy and his wife and co-owner of Pepperwort Ltd, Jane Gogan announced that they were taking a break from The Stand.
The two stated that would be taking a break from The Stand for the “foreseeable future” and explained that they had commitments to other projects which required their attention.
The former RTÉ soccer pundit, who is set to turn 80 in August, had been presenting the show for over eight years.
In a busy year for the business, Pepperwort’s cash funds increased by €76,176 from €270,749 to €346,925
Regularly at the top of the podcast charts, The Stand also attracted high-level commercial sponsorship, including from Tesco.
Dunphy and Gogan co-own the company on a 50/50 basis and the accounts showed that aggregate pay to the directors in 2024 was €74,811 which was a marginal increase on the €72,719 for the prior year.
As well as generating revenue from advertisers, people could subscribe to The Stand for a fee of €5 (ex VAT) per month.
The last new edition of The Stand was posted on December 19 and the current affairs, sport and culture podcast posts up to eight new episodes each week that included Dunphy and his former RTE soccer pundit colleague, John Giles discussing the latest soccer results.
The successful podcast venture was the latest chapter in the long and successful media career enjoyed by the former Irish soccer international, Dunphy.
Dunphy is currently at work on the second half of his autobiography where the first volume, The Rocky Road, told his story up to the 1990 World Cup and in a press interview last year, he said “the next part will be funnier and lighter”.
Dunphy has been a mainstay providing soccer analysis on TV and radio since the early 1980s and the Dubliner continues to write a soccer column with The Irish Daily Star.
Dunphy has also written five best selling books including an early critically acclaimed memoir Only a Game?, U2’s biography Unforgettable Fire, Sir Matt Busby’s biography A Strange Kind of Glory, Roy Keane’s autobiography Keane, along with The Rocky Road.
Addressing Pepperwort’s going concern status, a note attached to the accounts states that the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.
In 2022, Dunphy moved to voluntarily wind up his other media firm, Festuca Ltd and a liquidator’s final statement of account shows that there was €392,931 available to return to the firm’s shareholders after expenses were paid out.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
