It is 'Ta' for firm behind GAA's 'Hawk Eye' as revenues soar
Revenues at the tech firm that decides questionable points in top GAA matches last year soared to £41m (€48.32m) - thanks to the controversial VAR (Video Assisted Referee) technology.
The Hawk Eye technology has become an integral part of the big GAA match occasions at Croke Park and Semple Stadium over the last number of years and new accounts show that revenues at Hawk Eye Innovations Ltd increased by 27% to £41m in the 12 months to the end of March last.
However, expansion costs at the UK based company contributed to pre-tax profits at the company declining by 50% to £2.9m.
The introduction of VAR and application of the technology continues to cause weekly controversy in the English Premier League this season and the directors’ report states that the sharp increase in revenues has been “mainly driven by the European soccer leagues adopting Video Assisted Referee (VAR) and goal line technology”.
The directors state that Hawk Eye Innovations Ltd had a successful year.
The directors add: “At the same time, the company has made significant investment in both assets and headcount increases, resulting in a reduction in operating margin from 19% to 8% year on year.”
A breakdown of revenues show that revenues for the UK and Ireland last year remained the same last year at £9.7m.
Along with the Bundesliga and French Ligue One, Serie A uses the VAR technology provided by the Sony-owned Hawk Eye Innovations.
Revenues in Europe last year increased by 27.5% from £12.7m to £16.3m while revenues in Asia increased by 77% from £3.4m to £6.12m and ‘Rest of World’ revenues increased by 62% from £4.6m to £7.4m
The Hawkeye technology was installed at Croke Park following 86% of delegates at Congress in favour of installing the system.
In 2016, the GAA’s use of Hawk Eye extended to Semple Stadium.
A spokesman for the GAA stated today: “The GAA is pleased with the role Hawkeye plays in assisting with the accurate recording of scores at the games where it is used.
He added: ”The Association has no plans to expand its use at this time outside the venues where it is already in operation."
At Croke Park, the technology involves eight high speed cameras with the ball position triangulated using four cameras covering each end of the stadium.
First used as a broadcast tool to analyse decisions in Cricket, Hawk-Eye has now become an integral part of over 20 sports and every year covers 20,000 games or events across 500+ stadiums in over 90 countries.
The directors state that they anticipate that the company will continue to trade profitably in the coming year.
The report states: “This will be driven by the continuing globalisation of the Hawk Eye brand where the company plans further development into new geographical areas."
The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of £4.9m - almost double the 2018 £2.6m cost for depreciation.
Numbers employed by Hawk-Eye increased from 224 to 29 and staff costs increased from £9.6m to £10.6m.
Accumulated profits at Hawk-Eye at the end of last March totalled £22.8m. Directors pay totalled £736,000.
The accounts show that after paying corporation tax of £637,000 the firm recorded post tax profits of £2.29m.
