Accumulated profits at the media company owned by Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore last year surged to a record €2.21 million.
The Co Wicklow native is now one of the most recognisable faces on UK television today through the top-rated ITV show Love Island, which is screened here on Virgin Media.
The 36-year-old presented her first series of Love Island in early 2020 before Covid-19 forced the cancellation of the summer 2020 edition.
Whitmore presented last summer's edition and now new accounts lodged with Companies House in the UK show that Whitmore’s firm, Yer Wan Ltd, enjoyed bumper post-tax profits of £654,688 (€784,725) for the 12 months to the end of March last.
The £654,688 resulted in the company’s accumulated profits rising from £1.19 million to £1.846 million (€2.21m) on March 31st last.
The company’s cash funds increased by £651,123 from £983,764 to £1.634 million. The money owed to the company by debtors increased from £399,371 to £499,304.
The profits of £654,688 for last year are a sharp increase of profits of £326,978 in the prior year and £165,362 for fiscal 2019.
Milestone year
In the year under review, Whitmore had her first book published ‘No One Can Change Your Life Except You’ and it quickly became a bestseller.
Away from the cameras, the year under review was a milestone one in the personal life of the BBC Radio Five Live presenter.
In November 2020, Whitmore got married in a "secret" wedding to boyfriend Iain Stirling in Dublin and she gave birth to the couple’s baby girl in March 2021.
The revenues for Whitmore's company - which employs one person - are not disclosed but a note states that revenues represent fees for TV and broadcasting services.
Separate accounts for comedian Iain Stirling’s firm, Iain Stirling Ltd, show more modest profits for the year with profits increasing by £91,611 to £1.058 million in the 12 months to the end of March last.
One of Ireland’s most successful broadcasters operating abroad, DCU graduate Whitmore has also worked for Channel 4 and MTV in the UK.
Profit increase
The £654,688 profit for last year is more than an 11-fold increase on the profits of £56,576 for March 2018.
The strong performance in recent years recorded by Whitmore’s firm reflects the Bray woman’s meteoric rise in the UK show business industry.
Whitmore changed the name of her company from Laura Whitmore Ltd to Yer Wan Ltd. The presenter’s Twitter profile, followed by over 437,800 people, refers to Whitmore as ‘Yer wan off the telly’.
As her celebrity status has increased over the past year due to her Love Island work, Whitmore - always very protective over her personal life - has used her platform to show the reality of dealing with intrusive paparazzi and has also hit back at online trolls.
The presenter studied journalism at Dublin City University (DCU) where she edited a student magazine and worked as a researcher for Newstalk for a period.
In 2008, Whitmore entered the Myspace/MTV Pick Me competition and beat off 3,000 other hopefuls to win a coveted MTV news role on the international music channel.
