Post-tax profits rise 53% at Ballymaloe Cookery School
Kate Winslet
enrolling for a course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School last year, post tax profits at the school increased by 53 per cent to €135,952 in 2024, according to its accounts.
It posted post tax profits of €88,864 in 2023.
The post-tax profits at the cookery school last year resulted in accumulated profits rising to €3.05 million.
The east Cork cookery school business sits on a 100 acre organic firm where Darina Allen is the majority shareholder in the cookery school business.
READ MORE
In April of last year, the cookery school came under the spotlight after Oscar winning actor Kate Winslet enrolled in a two-and-a-half-day course there with TV chef and bestselling cookbook author Rachel Allen.
The cookery school usually has on offer over 60 courses each year and the flagship course remains the 12-week long certificate course which runs three times every year.
Already, the course for this September and January of next year is booked out with participants paying out €16,295 for September's course with the cost rising to €16,795 for the January course.
A waiting list is in place for each of the two upcoming 12-week certificate courses.
The school is a significant employer in east Cork and last year numbers employed increased from 68 to 73 as staff costs rose from €2.52 million to €2.6 million.
Staff numbers are made up of three directors and 70 teachers and administration staff.
The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €183,123 while directors' pay dipped slightly from €336,478 to €329,847.
The firm's cash funds increased from €944,642 to €988,639.
The book value of the firm's fixed assets increased marginally from €4.7 million to €4.78 million.
Under the heading of 'post balance sheet event', the accounts said that 'there is a significant risk to the global economy arising from the current geopolitical situation and the impact on energy costs and inflation'.
The note added that 'this development will have implications for the activities of the company in future months. The directors are unable to quantify or determine what the extent of the implications of these matters are for the company as at the date of approval of the financial statements'.
The cookery school is one of a number of businesses operated by members of the Allen family at Ballymaloe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
OpenAI disables ChatGPT ‘experiment' that allowed users make exchanges available on search engines
OpenAI has pulled the plug on a short-lived change to the configuration of the ChatGPT app that allowed users to make their conversations accessible to search engines after it became apparent that some private or commercially sensitive material was inadvertently being made accessible on the internet. Barry Scannell, an AI law and policy partner at William Fry and a member of the Government appointed AI Advisory Council, said his 'jaw hit the floor' when he saw some of the material made accessible to routine Google searches on Thursday. Open AI's chief information security officer later said the feature that allowed users to make their conversations accessible for indexing by search engines would be disabled by Friday, with Dane Stuckey describing the original move as 'a short-lived experiment'. He said the company was working to ensure that all information that had been indexed was entirely removed. READ MORE Mr Scannell said there had been widespread confusion initially as to how the information was becoming publicly accessible and whether all prompts to ChatGPT were impacted. It appears users were clicking a check-box that had the effect of making shared chats discoverable by search engines without them realising the consequences. He said it was clear from much of the information that became accessible from the user prompts that this was being done unintentionally. 'Based on what I've seen, some of the stuff was so personally sensitive and commercially sensitive that people clearly didn't realise a random person could come along and do a simple search on Google and be able to find the chats.' He said the issue did not appear to be a technical issue but rather highlighted the need for greater AI literacy on the part of users to better understand the tech they are using. 'People seem to have clicked a box to make their chats discoverable on a search engine, or make them indexable, apparently without understanding what that meant. It's just people doing this without realising it. 'What this shows, I think, is just how important it is to have critical thinking and AI literacy as a really key component of any national strategy dealing with it.' He said the incident should also serve as a warning to those working business about the potential risks involved in using AI as there was the potential to expose commercially sensitive material. An extension of legal confidentiality protections might also be required, he suggested. Online, there was considerable discussion too of the potential for deeply personal information to be made available, including the contents of chats in which individuals were using ChatGPT for the purposes of therapy.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on the August bank holiday: a weekend to rest easy
In 1924, the leader of the Irish Labour Party, Thomas Johnson, told the Dáil 'a man is easier in his mind when he is getting a holiday if he is getting his pay for the same day'. His remarks came during a debate on the Public Holidays Bill, repealing nineteenth century British legislation which also covered Ireland, relating to four bank holidays: 26th December, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the first Monday in August. St Patrick's Day had been designated a bank holiday in 1903 by the Westminster parliament. The 1924 Act gave power to the government of the new Irish Free State 'to appoint any particular day to be observed as a bank holiday.' Johnson's plea was that 'workmen who are given a holiday by statute… shall have their day's pay for that holiday.' While that request was not acceded to then, further legislation in 1939 established workers' entitlement to paid leave, with six bank holidays legally established: Christmas Day, St Stephen's Day, St Patrick's Day, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and the first Monday in August. New Year's Day and the October holiday were added in the 1970s, while in 1993 the May holiday was introduced. The most recent public holiday was established in 2022, St Brigid's Day, which also marked the Celtic festival of Imbolc, traditionally acknowledging the commencement of Spring. It was the first Irish public holiday named after a woman. We use the terms bank holiday and public holiday interchangeably, but our laws refer only to public holidays. Collectively, these days arise from inheritance, independent statehood and our distinctive traditions; historically, there were rest and feast days, and celebrations marking seasons, harvests and saints. READ MORE Some may regard the plethora of public holidays, including this weekends August Bank Holiday, as indulgent. But with ten public holidays, Ireland falls below the EU annual average of twelve, and the Irish, working an average 39 hours a week, toil at a higher rate than the EU average of 37.8 hours, allowing workers benefiting from this weekend to be easy in their minds.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
All Together Now 2025: The first day in pictures
Up to 30,000 festivalgoers are expected at Curraghmore Estate in Co Waterford for this year's All Together Now . The festival, now in its sixth year, is taking place over the August bank holiday weekend and boasts several stages of music, spoken word, comedy, workshops, wellness activities and more. Performers include Fontaines DC , CMAT , Wet Leg, London Grammar and Primal Scream. Other Irish music acts include Bricknasty, Landless, Muireann Bradley, Le Boom and Pigbaby. Michael Kiwanuka was due to appear on the main stage on Monday, but his performance has been cancelled on the advice of doctors due to an illness. Tickets for All Together Now 2025 are officially sold out. The organisers have strongly advised festivalgoers to avoid purchasing tickets or camper van passes from unauthorised sellers. [ All Together Now music festival 2025: Stage line-ups and times, ticket information, how to get there and more Opens in new window ] [ Early arrivals at All Together Now: 'If I'm paying €275...I'm getting my money's worth' Opens in new window ] Here's a snapshot of the first day at the festival. Helena Walsh-Kiely at the first day of All Together Now, Co Waterford. Photograph: Dan Dennison Chloe Walsh from Co Cork at the campsite on Curraghmore Estate, Co Waterford. Photograph: Dan Dennison Graham Ross from Co Kildare at All Together Now. Photograph: Dan Dennison The campsite at Curraghmore Estate, Co Waterford. Photograph: Dan Dennison David Hannon from Co Sligo (left) with friends Sinead Brett, Emma Farrell, Elaine Kenny, Niall Mockler and Michelle Sammon. Photograph: Dan Dennison Seamus Ryan (left), aged four, and Rory Ryan, aged two, from Co Tipperary arrive at the festival. Photograph: Dan Dennison Sarah McKeown and Amy Cooper from Belfast at All Together Now. Photograph: Dan Dennison Mary O'Donovan from Crosshaven, Co Cork sets up her tent at Curraghmore Estate, Co Waterford. Photograph: Dan Dennison
