Pretax profits at the sports tech firm that decides questionable points in top GAA games and is behind the video assistant referee (VAR) technology that operates in the English Premier League and around the world decreased by 27 per cent to £14.76 million (€16.9 million).
Accounts for Hawk Eye Innovations Ltd show that the business recorded the decrease in pretax profits as revenues increased by 4 per cent from £78.74 million to £81.67 million in the 12 months to the end of March this year. The company posted pretax profits of £20.28 million the previous financial year.
The Hawk-Eye score detection technology has become an integral part of big GAA matches over the last number of years.
The chief factor behind the drop in profit last year was the company almost doubling its research and development (R&D) spend from £7.3 million to £13 million.
RM Block
In a note with the accounts the directors said that the focus of the R&D spend included artificial intelligence, automated event intelligence, cloud-native video and optical tracking technologies, and augmented and virtual reality technology.
The note said that profits were further hit as the 2024 results included a £4.2 million gain related to the Beyond Sports acquisition that did not reoccur this year.
Profits were also hit by remuneration to directors increasing four fold from £613,000 to £2.47 million.
The accounts aid that revenue grew by 4 per cent year-on-year, reflecting new and expanded contracts with key clients.
At GAA games, Hawk-Eye operates on the basis of four cameras at either end of the ground, which capture and track the movement of the ball.
The income from GAA’s hurling and Gaelic football represents only a small fraction of Hawkeye’s revenues and is included in “other sports” in the accounts where revenues this year increased from £1.45 million to £2.05 million.
The accounts for the Sony-owned firm show that revenues for the UK and Ireland increased from £15.85 million to £17.04 million.
The company’s revenues have been boosted in recent years with football leagues introducing VAR technology around the world.
Revenues from football at £60.89 million accounted for 74.5 per cent of revenues this year.
Numbers employed by the company this year increased from 589 to 680 as staff costs increased by 19 per cent from £33.8 million to £40.16 million.
The profit this year takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of £13.3 million. The company recorded a post tax profit of £10.77 million following a corporation tax charge of £3.99 million.
