A lucrative European football campaign and the transfer of teenage star Naj Razi to Italian side Como for an initial fee of €450,000 helped the company behind Shamrock Rovers to record a post tax profit of €1.183m last year.
New abridged accounts filed by Shamrock Rovers FC Ltd show that the post tax profit of €1.183m for 2024 followed a post tax loss of €2.365m in 2023 – a positive swing of €3.54m.
The professional football company returned to profit after the club secured European group stage football for only the third time in its 126 year history.
Shamrock Rovers – currently on course to win a record 22nd SSE Airtricity League of Ireland title – will tomorrow night try to make that a fourth time when they play Santa Clara of Portugal at Tallaght Stadium with a place in the Conference League group stage at stake.
Last year, qualification for the Conference League Group stage guaranteed Shamrock Rovers €3.8m in UEFA prize money.
The accounts reporting the €1.18m profit for 2024 follows confirmation in recent days that Shamrock Rovers teenager Victor Ozhianvuna is set to become the most expensive League of Ireland export after agreeing a pre-contract deal with Arsenal that will net the Hoops at least €2m before he leaves in January 2027.
Additional clauses could eventually bring the value of the move for Rovers above the €4m mark for the 16 year old with a healthy sell-on clause also part of the arrangement.
The planned move by Victor Ozhianvuna follows Shamrock Rovers receiving an upfront fee of €450,000 from Naj Razi’s move to Italian club Como in February 2024.
The figure could in time double from “add-ons” to the initial transfer fee.
The new accounts show that the buoyant 2024 financial performance contributed to the club’s cash funds increasing almost seven fold from €488,416 to €3.28m at the end of December last.
The €1.1m profit helped the company reduce its accumulated losses from €3.23m to €2.05m at the end of 2024 and its shareholders’ deficit of €788,845 at the end of 2023 became shareholder funds of €395,018 at the end of last year.
The company returned to profit in 2024 after reducing the number of professional players on its books from 54 to 46.
Overall staff numbers reduced from 70 to 65 where the numbers employed in administration increased from seven to 10 while numbers in management and coaching remained at eight and director remained static at one.
The amount owed to a connected party, Shamrock Rovers Members Club Company Ltd, last year increased from €155,370 to €958,958.
The new abridged accounts do not reveal a revenue figure or the amount paid in staff costs.
A note attached to the accounts states that the Board has undertaken a recent and thorough review of the company’s forecasts and the associated risks.
The note states that the forecast assumes the club will challenge for the European places in the Airtricity League in 2025, will successfully participate in the European competition in 2025 and participate in European competition in the season thereafter.
The forecasts also cover season ticket sales, matchday income, sponsorship, commercial and other non-matchday income; payroll costs reflecting the 2025 squad size and the quantum of future transfer receivables and payables.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
