Axed Picnic gets payout to the tune of €3.6m
Insurance helped EP’S firm make €2.4m profit
FINAL accounting figures show Electric Picnic’s insurance paid out €3.6million when the festival was cancelled in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It helped the festival company make a €2.4million profit in 2020.
Managing director of promoters MCD, Denis Desmond, who operates Electric Picnic with Live Nation, revealed that the 2020 festival had an insurance policy that covered events such as a pandemic.
However, after Covid-19 shut down the world, insurance companies “decided that they wouldn’t give pandemic cover”, according to Mr Desmond, so Electric Picnic 2021 was not. Latest accounts now show that the €2.4million profit for 2020 was a 50% increase on 2019’s figures.
It was held months before the Covid-19 outbreak and generated revenues of close to €17million.
The award-winning festival is due to be back later this year – but with dearer ticket prices.
Tickets for 2020 cost €260 for weekend camping and €100 for Sunday day tickets.
Costs for 2022 were €282 for weekend camping (an 8.5% increase) and €107 for Sunday day tickets (a 7% rise).
The tickets for the three-day festival at Stradbally in Co Laois went on sale on March 11 and sold out in 30 minutes.
Uncancelled tickets from 2020 and 2021 can be used at this year’s festival, which runs from September 2-4.
The organisers’ company stages several events across Ireland and the UK, including Latitude in Dublin and the Leeds and Reading festivals in England.
A total of €30.6million has been paid out by insurance firms for the 2020 cancellations, including the €3.6million for EP. Headline acts this year include Megan Thee Stallion, Dermot Kennedy, Picture This and Snow Patrol.
Festival organiser Melvin Benn said recently: “Being at Stradbally in September is something that I just can’t wait for to be honest. It’s very special.”