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 €1.183 million last year.
Abridged accounts filed by Shamrock Rovers FC Ltd show that the post-tax profit of €1.183 million for 2024 followed a post-tax loss of €2.365 million in 2023 – a positive swing of €3.54 million.
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.
On Thursday night, Shamrock Rovers – currently on course to win a record 22nd SSE Airtricity League of Ireland title – will 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.
RM Block
Last year, qualification for the Conference League Group stage guaranteed Shamrock Rovers €3.8 million in Uefa prize money.
The accounts reporting the €1.18 million 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 precontract deal with Arsenal that will net the Hoops at least €2 million before he leaves in January 2027.
Additional clauses could eventually bring the value of the move for Rovers above the €4 million 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 accounts show that the buoyant 2024 financial performance contributed to the club’s cash funds increasing almost seven fold from €488,416 to €3.28 million at the end of December last.
The €1.1 million profit helped the company reduce its accumulated losses from €3.23 million to €2.05 million 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.
