The co-production group behind Valhalla and Vikings received €34 million in corporate tax credits for films from Revenue last year

Valhalla and Vikings, a film co-production group behind global hit series, received €34 million in corporate tax credits from Revenue last year.

This is according to new accounts for Metropolitan Films International Ltd, which show the company’s revenue increased from £12.38m to £12.38m in the 12 months to the end of April 2021.

The main activity of the group is the production of films and TV series here, mainly through co-production of incoming European and international studio projects.

The film credit of 34 million euros for the company last year was zero in this category in the previous year.

In the previous three years, Metropolitan Films International Ltd received film tax credits totaling €85 million, broken down into €22 million in 2019, €25.47 million in 2018 and €37.48 million in 2017.

Figures released by Revenue earlier this year show that the amount of Section 481 Taxes Consolidation Act tax relief granted to Metropolitan Films International Ltd for the critically acclaimed The Last Duel starring Matt Damon fell in the last year 10 and 30 million euros.

Metropolitan Films International Ltd also received tax breaks of between 10 and 30 million euros for Disney’s Disenchanted with Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey last year.

As Metropolitan Films International Ltd increased its activities last year, the company’s workforce increased from 66 to 424, while staff costs rose from €2.6m to €24.2m.

A note attached to the financial statements shows that the majority of the workers employed are contract labourers.

Some of the productions Metropolitan is involved in are Badlands, Vikings and Valhalla.

The first series of Valhalla became available on Netflix in February and filming of the second series wrapped here late last year.

The increased production at Metropolitan Films last year is underlined, the company’s production costs rose from €8.7 million to €104.79 million last year.

The company posted a pre-tax loss of €34.05m and the corporate tax credit of €34.01m resulted in a modest pre-tax loss of €38,420.

The company is run by James Flynn and film industry veteran Morgan O’Sullivan. Ronan Flynn resigned from the board in April 2021.

The company’s liquid funds increased in the past year from €4.6 million to €12.85 million.

The Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that the value of payments to qualifying companies under the film corporate tax credit was €137.1 million in 2021, following the value of payments totaling €138.7 million in 2020.