Pre-tax profits at RTÉ's commercial arm last year reduced by 4% to €11.33m due to the firm no longer receiving profits from its GAAGo joint venture.

New accounts filed by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC show that pre-tax profits declined as revenues reduced by 6.5% or €1.29m from €19.88m to €18.58m in 2025.

Operating profits last year remained flat at €11.3m but the €487,000 share of profit that the company booked from its GAA GO joint venture in 2024 was no longer available resulting in the drop in pre-tax profits.

A note attached to the accounts states that the sale of RTÉ Commercial Enterprises's investment in GAAGo - since renamed GAA+ - was completed in February 2026 with sales proceeds received of €3m.

The note states that "the locked box date with regard to the sale of the company's share in GAAGo was December 31st 2024, hence no share in profit in 2025".

The directors state that Digital Player Licensing was the primary source of income for the firm in 2025 at €7.9m "although this was slightly behind 2024, due to the non-renewal of one licensing arrangement".

Revenues generated by Programme Interaction Competitions (PIC) stabilised last year and remained consistent with 2024 after being impacted over the past few years by declining levels of audience engagement with TV competitions.

Sales of Love/Hate, Smother and The Clinic to TV stations overseas helped programme sales increase by over 90% in 2024 and the directors state that for 2025 "TV Programmes sales were significantly down on prior year".

"However, as noted at the time, 2024 was an unprecedented year for programme sales, in particular across drama," they state.

The directors report that total RTÉ Guide copies sold in 2025 amounted to1.33 million and the Christmas edition represented 0.2 million of this - 15% of all RTÉ Guides for the year.

The report states that the directors' expectation was that there would be a continued decline in the print market and the actual decline in volume was 7%, which is consistent with what was experienced in the previous year.

However an increase in price resulted in a moderate increase in Guide circulation income over 2024, meaning the Guide performed well despite the lower volumes sold.

Advertising revenue for the RTÉ stable year on year although the magazine advertising market continues to be challenging.

The accounts confirm that "circulation income" increased from €3.09m to €3.16m while content, merchandising and commercial sale income declined from €14.3m to €12.9m.

The directors report that TV Commercial Production income and TV merchandising income were substantially down year on year, although neither are significant income streams.

The firm's operating costs were reduced by 15% from €8.57m to €7.25m.

The directors state that the main reasons for the year on year decrease are lower programme royalties payable aligned to the decreased programme sales; a reduction in bad debt provision and no onward donation of Late Late Toyshow merchandising income to charity due to no merchandising agreement in the year.

The report also points to lower personnel costs and reductions due to exiting the United Rugby Championship (URC) business.

"Netted against this are higher general production costs, promotional costs, and professional fees relating to the sale of shares in GAAGO," they state.

The accounts show that professional fees last year increased from €173,000 to €224,000.

The company recorded post tax profits of €10.54m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €785,000. Staff costs reduced from €2.3m to €2.19m.

At the end of last year, the firm had accumulated profits of €147.25m while its cash funds increased from €1.7m to €3.6m.

Reporting by Gordon Deegan