The main Irish unit of sports retailer JD Sports paid out a dividend of €18 million during the same year it received Government Covid-19 grants of €1.3 million.
That is according to new accounts for John David Sports Fashion (Ireland) Ltd, which show the business recorded increased profits and revenues during the early phases of the pandemic.
The firm operates 19 retail outlets here and the accounts show that pre-tax profits increased by 39 per cent from €17.22 million to €23.97 million in the 12 months to the end of January 30th this year.
This followed revenues increasing by €25 million or 17 per cent from €142.2 million to €167.3 million.
Confirmation of the dividend payout comes after the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, said last week that companies who availed of Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme payments and who recorded "substantial profits" and were in a position to pay "substantial dividends" should repay the Covid-19 wage supports.
The account does not disclose the nature of the Government grants received last year.
However, figures published by Revenue Commissioners show that John David Sports Fashion (Ireland) Ltd did avail of payments under the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) put in place during the first lockdown here in March 2020.
The Revenue Commissioner records show that the company did not avail of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) that was introduced in September of last year.
The company last year recorded post tax profits of €20.4 million after paying corporation tax of €3.49 million.
Dividend payouts
A spokesman for the UK owned JD Sports plc declined to comment on Monday when asked on the paying out of the dividend and its Irish company receiving Irish Government grants during the same year.
The dividend payout last year of €18 million which followed a dividend payout of €8 million in the prior year.
On the 2020 performance, the directors for the Irish unit state: “The company continues to look at all opportunities in the current offer driven market to improve market share and protect margin whilst exercising strong cost controls.”
The directors state that the company “will continue to utilise its store portfolio to improve market share and protect margin whilst exercising strong cost controls”.
During last year, the company’s cash funds increased sharply from €28.8 million to €54.8 million while accumulated profits totalled €21.79 million at the end of last January.
The profits last year take account of combined non-cash depreciation costs of €8.2 million.
Numbers employed by the business last year reduced from 424 to 204 ‘full time equivalents' and staff costs reduced from €13 million to €9.8 million.
