Revenues plummeted by 92 per cent or £15.8 million (€18.94 million) at the operator of one of the island's most popular visitor attractions, Titanic Belfast, last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
New accounts filed by Titanic Belfast Ltd with the UK Companies House show that it recorded pretax losses of £1.35 million in the 12 months to the end of March last year.
The loss followed a pretax profit of £3.48 million in the previous year. The company swung into the red as revenues declined from £17.19 million to £1.3 million last year.
The pretax loss would have been far greater but for “other operating income” of £3.51 million Titanic Belfast received that included £3.35 million in Covid-19 UK government grant income.
Visitor numbers
The visitor attraction was closed during most of the financial year. Total visitor numbers to the exhibition and events amounted to 68,923, which was only 8 per cent of the visitor numbers for the prior year.
When approving the accounts in March this year, directors noted that while visitor numbers and turnover have been recovering, the company continues to operate at a reduced level.
At the end of March 2021, the firm had shareholder funds of £986,201. The loss last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €544,522.
