Last year’s Paddy Cosgrave Web Summit group, Businessmen, made a profit after being hit financially by Covid-19.
Accounts for the 2021 account submitted by Manders Terrace Ltd, which became available on Wednesday, show that the group made a profit after last year’s revenue increased by € 14.45 million annually to € 31.8 million. increase.
The Group’s 2020 account, which became available only on Tuesday, showed that the impact of Covid-19 maintained that the business maintained a decline in revenue of € 30.59 million in 2020. The Group’s 2020 revenues fell from € 47.94 million to € 17.35 million, with a pre-tax loss of € 5.29 million in 2020.
Covid-19 significantly reduced the Group’s 2020 revenues as the Web Summit was unable to host the flagship face-to-face Web Summit in Lisbon in 2020. Then, in December 2020, a virtual version of the conference was held with 104,000 participants.
The main activities of this group are software development and event holding.
In 2021 accounting, the director said the company “continues to invest in the development of our software and technology to improve our physical events when we return directly.” Said.
“The Web Summit returned stronger than expected in 2021 and sold out to more than 40,000 participants, but the number was limited due to Covid-19 health and safety regulations.”
ChangeX
The pre-tax loss in 2020 takes into account the exceptional allowance of € 1 million donated by the Web Summit to ChangeX in 2020.
The memo attached to the 2020 account, finally signed on October 31, describes ChangeX as a platform established in Ireland to bring people together to take the initiative for the public good. “ChangeX has identified and funded a series of projects aimed at strengthening Ireland’s response to Covid-19,” the memo said.
Despite Covid-19’s impact on operations in 2020 and 2021, Group employment continues to grow over the two years, rising from 225 at the beginning of 2020 to 246 at the end of last year. Did.
Labor costs increased from 12.68 million euros to 13.43 million euros last year.
Director salaries have nearly quadrupled from € 551,212 last year to € 2.15 million, a significant increase following last year’s appointment of Nida Shah, Nathan Hubbard, Peter Gilmer and Michael Sexton to the board of directors. ..
The group benefited from “other operating income” of € 712,514 in 2020 and € 1.13 million in 2021.
Separately, according to published Revenues Commission statistics, Web Summit Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Manders Terrace, used government Covid-19 wage subsidy payments in 2020 and 2021. ..
Legal dispute
The Web Summit Conference was founded in Dublin in 2009 by Paddy Cosgrave, Daire Hickey and David Kelly, and the first event had 150 attendees. Kelly resigned from the board in April 2021. Hicky resigned from the board in August 2019.
A notable legal dispute involving Kosgrave, who owns 81% of the business, and his former colleagues Hicky and Kelly, has not yet been decided in several proceedings.
The 2021 account approved on June 7 will be under the heading “Court Costs” and “The Group will be involved in claims and legal action incurred in normal business and / or other processes. There is. “
The memo states: “Based on the information and legal advice currently available, the Board of Directors shall not have such proceedings individually or as a whole have a significant adverse effect on the financial statements, and the Group has no such proceedings.”
The Web Summit moved to Lisbon in 2016 under a 10-year contract with the Portuguese government.
