STATE AGENCY Horseracing Ireland (HRI) waived an €8.8 million loan to its Leopardstown Racecourse subsidiary in 2010, leaving the business with a €6.6 million gain for the year.

Accounts filed by Leopardstown Club Ltd, which operates the south Dublin racecourse, show that HRI waived an €8.8 million loan to the company last year.

The waiver, combined with a write-off of €1.8 million, for costs associated with redevelopment plans that have since been dropped, left the track with a €6.6 million pre-tax profit for 2010.

According to HRI, the loan waiver was a return of money originally due to Leopardstown Club Ltd from the compulsory sale of 19 acres of land to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in 2001 to allow construction of the M50 motorway, which runs alongside part of the track’s property.

Leopardstown and HRI’s predecessor, the Irish Horseracing Authority, both had interests in the land. The racetrack transferred its interests to the racing board, which then sold the entire holding to the council.

The authority – from which HRI took over in 2002 – placed the €18.5 million proceeds in a development fund for Leopardstown. Money from this was used to redevelop the golf course, the track’s stable yard and pavilion.

The money from the fund was classed as a loan on Leopardstown Club’s accounts.

HRI chief executive and Leopardstown Club director Brian Kavanagh said that the waiving of the loan in the 2010 accounts was designed to tidy up the inter-company balances.

He added that Leopardstown Club decided it would be prudent to write off the €1.8 million cost of the halted redevelopment plans.

The racecourse company had intended redeveloping its existing stands and facilities and had spent money on design and planning. The proposal was dropped after the recession intervened three years ago.

The accounts state that the design and plans could be used should the idea be revived.

Leopardstown Club’s balance sheet shows that net assets stood at €26.4 million on December 31st, 2010.

The club had revenues of €5.3 million in 2010, €3.4 million of which came from racing.

Its golf course generated a further €1.3 million while rent, charged to a gym, pub and nightclub in the stands complex, accounted for €600,000.

The company also benefited from a deferred tax gain of almost €400,000.

Excluding the impact of the waiver and write-off, its losses for the year came to just under €100,000.