Desmond’s $7.5 Million Payout

Accounts from Academy Music Group Ltd., which operates London’s Brixton Academy and 18 other venues around the UK, show that last year its shareholders were paid a total of $29.03 million in dividends. Desmond owns more than 25 percent of the company. 

Bob Angus from London-based Metropolis Music and Simon Moran from Manchester-based SJM Concerts are the other UK promoters who would have benefited to the tune of about $6.4 million.

“We got a few bob last year. It makes up for the other ones. We did well – it was a good year,” Desmond told the Irish Independent. He said AMG is continuing to do well in 2014, with revenues 5 percent up on 2013. UK-based Festival Republic, another joint venture between Desmond and LN, has paid $16.89 million in dividends in the last two years.

Apart from the Festival Republic events such as Reading, Leeds and Latitude, Desmond also has an interest in the England’s V festivals and Scotland’s T In The Park.

The accounts for AMG show that last year the business sustained a slight decline in pre-tax profits to $7.26 million, a little shy of the $7.53 million it made in 2012.

Last year, AMG’s operating profits increased 2 percent to $5.02 million, while the latest round of dividend payouts means the firm’s accumulated profits fell from $66.59 million to $45.4 million.