Riverdance - Seven-Minute Wonder To International Money Spinner

From a 7-minute interval performance at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin in 1994, Riverdance became one of the top box office shows, mesmerizing world wide audiences in America, Europe and Asia, while raking in millions of euro for its creators - John McColgan and Moya Doherty.

Abhann Productions, the name of the company who produces the shows both McColgan and Doherty as the sole shareholders earning over 60 million euro from the show in the past 5 years alone.

The pair paid themselves 6 million euro in salaries and pension contributions last year a slight rise on the previous year when they shared 5.7 million euro. No shows in Asia last year meant a drop in turnover for the company from that aspect to the tune of 8.6 million however, income from European and U.S. shows was up.

Abhann recorded a pre tax loss of 2.3 million euro in 2005 compared with a pre tax profit of over 682,000 euro in 2004. The overall balance sheet for the company shows profits of 10.6 million euro.

The duo with the midas touch are looking forward to further success with 5 million euro worth of advance bookings already for their musical based on the life of pirate queen, Grace O'Malley, which premiered in Chicago last month and will hit Broadway in March 2007.