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Golfer Rory McIlroy saw revenues at the company that controls his management and image rights last year slide close to 40 per cent.

Accounts show that the Dublin-based Rory McIlroy Management Services Ltd had revenues of $14.8 million last year, down $9.37 million. That pushed the business to a pretax loss of $8.03 million.

However, this includes a non-cash writedown of $15.7 million in the golfers image rights during the year in accordance with accountancy rules.

The net cash generated by the company from operating activities, after tax and interest paid, totalled $9.8 million for 2020.

In a note attached to the accounts directors said that counter-intuitively the Covid-19 pandemic has served to underscore the resilience of tournament golf, the business of professional golf and wider participation in the game.

Revenues in 2020 were somewhat impacted by the compressed tour schedule but the medium-term impact on the rights held by the company has undoubtedly been positive.

The main activity of the company is managing royalty earnings and management fees for Mr McIlroy, one of the most marketable players in world golf.

Prize money and other such earnings are not part of the Irish companys revenue because they tend to be treated as income, and taxed by the country where the earnings are won.

On the Covid-19-disrupted US PGA tour in 2020, McIlroy recorded tour earnings of $4.4 million. His US PGA tour earnings this year total an almost identical $4.39 million.

The companys cash pile last year slumped from $15 million to $5.2 million.

At the start of 2020 the company had a $225 million book value placed on McIlroys image rights, which was reduced to $209 million at the end of last year.

Rory McIlroy sits on the board with his father Gerry, Donal Casey and Sean OFlaherty. Last year the pay to directors fell marginally from $2.28 million to $2.1 million.

The company, trading as Rory McIlroy Inc, was established towards the end of 2013 by McIlroy. The golfer opted to locate everything to do with his brand and intellectual property in Ireland, setting up the firm here as part of a strategy to simplify his business affairs.

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Rory McIlroy's management firm ships hit to revenue of $9.37m - The Irish Times