The publisher of the Irish Farmers Journal, the Agricultural Trust, recorded a loss of nearly €1.5 million amid a settlement with Revenue over the underpayment of payroll taxes.
The company is also the publisher of The Irish Garden, The Irish Field and Irish Country Magazine.
The editor of the Farmers Journal, Jack Kennedy, stepped down in late September, following reports of tensions with the board of its publisher.
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The Irish Times has previously reported that the rift centred on a perception at editorial level of an overreach by the board into editorial matters.
The Agricultural Trust CLG posted turnover of €18.16 million in 2024, an increase on €17.84 million the previous year. Increased operating expenses, led by an uptick in total staff costs from €7.23 million in 2023 to €7.95 million last year, led to a narrowing of operating profits.
However, three exceptional items amounting to €2.17 million caused the otherwise profitable company to record pretax losses of €1.47 million.
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One of those exceptional items was costs generated by the company winding up its defined benefit pension scheme for staff in September 2024.
The trust also came to an €815,000 settlement with Revenue over the underpayment of taxes in relation to contractor costs following an “unprompted voluntary qualifying disclosure”.
The remaining exceptional item was the recognition of the impairment of assets in relation to Tullamore Farm Limited, a 200-acre demonstration facility in Screggan, Co Offaly, owned by the Grogan family, which is operated under a 15-year lease.
In a statement, Agricultural Trust said it had “recorded a sustainable financial performance” during the year, pointing to a 2 per cent increase in its revenues during the period. It noted that operating profits had declined “due to cost inflation across the business as well as the write-off of certain pension assets”.
The publisher said its financial results “were also impacted by a number of once-off costs related to an unprompted voluntary settlement with the Revenue Commissioners over contractor taxes, a write-down of certain assets and the winding up of a legacy pension scheme”.
“Excluding once-off charges, the underlying performance of the Agricultural Trust in 2024 was profitable, and the organisation remains in a financially strong position.”
Lifetime losses at Tullamore Farm Limited grew to €1.16 million by the end of last year. The farm recorded a deficit of €368,000 in 2024 as losses doubled over the previous year when it lost €153,000.
The company’s accounts detail that it is supported by its parent company, The Agricultural Trust, by way of loans totalling €1.24 million at the end of the 2024 financial year.