Revenues at the Porterhouse Group last year surged by 79 per cent to €25.6 million as the business recovered from the impact of the pandemic.
New consolidated accounts for Wavecrest Inn Ltd show the hospitality group recorded an operating profit of €3.19 million in the 12 months to the end of February last. Revenues increased by €11.2 million, from €14.3 million to €25.55 million.
After finance costs of €517,514 and non-cash writedowns of €810,474 were taken into account, the group recorded a pretax profit of €1.86 million. This was 50 per cent down on the prior year, when the numbers were skewed by a non-cash gain of €7.9 million on the value of investment property.
The accounts cover the Porterhouse bars in Dublin and London, restaurants in Dublin and London and the group’s brewery and distribution business.
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Managing director of the Porterhouse Group, Elliot Hughes, said: “The performance of the group last year was a great improvement on the year before but still below 2019 levels.”
The group had pre-Covid-19 revenues of €29.74 million.
“Last year was challenging as we juggled changing restrictions, but we managed well and we are glad to get back to trading as normal this year,” Mr Hughes said, adding that the increase in turnover was largely related to reduced pandemic restrictions and closures.
He said business so far this year has been “good” as trading has returned to “normality”.
He said the business is “not looking to expand at this given time but focusing on growing and improving our existing operations after a challenging few years”.
A breakdown of the group’s revenues last year showed that €20.8 million was generated through drink sales and €4.66 million through food sales. The company also received €3.74 million in other operating income.
The bulk of the group’s revenues were generated in the Republic, with UK revenues increasing fourfold from €1 million to €4 million.
Numbers employed increased from 180 to 194 as staff costs increased by 63 per cent from €3.8 million to €6.24 million. The staff costs included redundancy costs of €214,318.
Directors’ pay last year increased €146,775 to €284,802.
The group’s accumulated profits totalled €21.3 million while its cash funds last year increased from €1.69 million to €5.7 million.
