The group behind Ireland’s largest childcare operator saw operating profits slump by almost three-quarters in 2022 as the Government began to reduce Covid subsidies when the emergency phase of the pandemic receded.
Busy Bees, a UK-headquartered group that entered the Irish market with the acquisition of Giraffe Childcare in 2019 before acquiring the Park Academy network of creches and preschools in 2021, has also blamed a “minor technical discrepancy” after the 2022 accounts for Giraffe were removed from the Companies Registration Office (CRO) system.
The Irish Times previously reported that Giraffe Childcare filed its 2021 accounts, now two years out of date, in late October. It also filed its 2022 annual return and accounts at the same time, both of which were briefly available on the CRO website before being removed.
On Tuesday, a spokesman said: “There was a minor technical discrepancy in the process of uploading the accounts with the CRO which has now been resolved and the accounts will be available again shortly.”
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Submissions to the CRO may be rejected or returned for several reasons, including incorrect or incomplete information.
The CRO afforded the company extra time to file accounts during the pandemic as part of a moratorium on late filing penalties.
Responding to The Irish Times in October, a spokesman for the Department of Children said it had “no remit” concerning childcare businesses and their compliance with CRO requirements. However, he said Covid grants to the early learning and childcare sector were “subject to audit verifications, therefore protecting exchequer funding”.
Annual accounts for a holding company in the Irish group, which includes consolidated figures for both Giraffe and Park Academy, reveal an almost 74 per cent decline in operating profits despite a sharp increase in revenues from creche fees.
Eagle Target Ireland Holdings, which holds 100 per cent of Giraffe and Park Academy’s shares, generated €31.1 million in revenue from creche fees in 2022, up more than 38 per cent on the previous year.
Yet operating profits at the group, which employed some 662 people in 2022, slumped from €11.9 million in 2021 to about €3.13 million in 2022.
This was largely due to a drop in the level of Covid grants the group received from the Government in that year. Eagle Target Ireland’s subsidiary businesses received almost €2.9 million in pandemic-related grants in 2022, down from close to €11.7 million the previous year.
Eagle Target Holdings owed its UK parent – Eagle Target 7, which is ultimately owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund – almost €46 million at the end of 2022. A spokeswoman for the group said amounts owed relate to “the significant amount of money the holding company has invested into the Irish childcare business, primarily for the acquisition of Giraffe and Park Academy”.
The Irish Times previously reported that Giraffe Childcare alone received more than €19 million in Government Covid supports between 2020 and 2022.
Giraffe Childcare operates some 24 creches in the Republic while Park Academy has eight in south Dublin and north Wicklow.
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