Dubray Books Story Has Happy Ending
Coronavirus wasn’t on the horizon when Gemma Barry (71) and her two sons Cormac and Eoghan sat down with larger peer Eason last year to discuss the sale of the Dubray Books chain of eight shops. So it must have been pleasing for the vendors to have the deal concluded at the end of February, a couple of weeks before all the country’s bookshops were shuttered.
Dubray started out as a single bookshop in Bray, established by Helen Clear in 1973. Helen had six daughters, all of whom worked in the shops at some stage. One of the daughters, Gemma, and her husband Kevin Barry, acquired the business in 1988.
Kevin, who died in 2014, was a former Central Bank economist who linked up with Dermot Desmond’s NCB in the 1980s. He left corporate finance to direct Dubray’s expansion. When the business was sold, the owners were Gemma Barry (50%), Cormac Barry (25%) and Eoghan Barry (25%).
Dubray thrived as Ireland’s largest independent bookseller thanks to its curated middlebrow and highbrow appeal. However, the range is allencompassing, from bestsellers to niche history, and the formula works a treat, even in the age of Amazon and e-books.
The new owners have left Dubray to operate as a standalone brand, and they’ll be doing well to improve the Dubray Books Ltd operating model. Wages and salaries were last disclosed in the 2016/17 accounts filing, when average pay for 91 staff excluding the four directors was €17,600 p.a. The total company payment to the staff defined contribution scheme was €52,000.
Filed accounts disclose a very healthy financial track record. In the year to August 2017, net profit was €615,000 after shareholders were paid €550,000 dividends. The
Gemma Barry with Liam Hanly, CEO of Eason
following year the net profit carried forward was €590,000 after a dividend payout of €530,000. For financial 2018/19, with €930,000 cash in the balance sheet and the sale looming, the dividend payout was upped to €1.1m.
Dubray Books had no debt and net worth in August 2019, including the cash soon to be extracted, was €2.1m. The deal value with Eason wasn’t disclosed. On the basis of six times operating profit excluding depreciation, the buyer likely had to pay over €6m for the thriving business.