BOD scores off the pitch as firm's profits soar to a massive €3.6m
Accumulated profits at Brian O'Driscoll's main firm last year soared by more than €100,000 to a whopping €3.6m as the rugby icon's massive earning power continued to pay rich dividends.
New figures show that the rugby star's final year as a professional rugby player - during which he made a long goodbye to Irish and Leinster fans - was a lucrative one, with accumulated profits at his firm jumping by €102,006 to €3.628m.
The profit jump at O'Driscoll's ODM & Promotions Ltd last year compares to profits increasing by €339,705 in 2013.
Coincidentally, company figures for O'Driscoll's former Ireland team-mate, Johnny Sexton (below), were also made available yesterday - and the new accounts show that it was a record year for the firm, with accumulated profits soaring by €385,151 to €861,250 last year.
However, Sexton's firm, JAS Management & Promotions Ltd, has some way to go before achieving the wealth obtained by his former team-mate - as ODM and Promotions Ltd had a cash pile just short of €950,000 at the end of September last.
O'Driscoll ended his stellar playing career with Ireland and Leinster last year and the accounts show that he was busy off the field making new investments.
This is shown in the value of his investments going from €1.6m to €2.1m. At the same time, the firm's cash pile reduced from €1.37m to €942,777.
O'Driscoll no longer enjoys the healthy income from the lucrative playing contracts he had with the IRFU over the past few years.
However, commercial deals with HSBC and Lexus, along with broadcasting deals with BT Sport and Newstalk, have ensured that the hit from the loss of his rugby-playing income has not been too hard.
The firm's only other director is O'Driscoll's father, Frank, who has helped guide his son's career off the pitch to great effect.
capitalise
O'Driscoll, then aged 22, established the firm in 2001 as part of his bid to capitalise on being the most marketable Irish player of the modern rugby era.
O'Driscoll has also been in a position to avail of the Government's scheme for retired sports stars that allows them to claim back a 40pc tax deduction on their gross earnings from sports activity over a 10-year period.
That includes wages and match bonuses, but does not include sponsorship money, payments for writing media columns or fees for appearing in advertisements. The scheme costs the Government €300,000 per annum to operate.
O'Driscoll's former team-mate Sexton (30), although a latecomer to the international scene, is at the earning peak of his playing career - and is making up for lost time in the earnings stakes. The massive hike in profits at JAS Management and Promotions covers Sexton's first year at Racing Metro in Paris, and compares to an increase of €94,490 in 2012.