Farmer Business Developments profits hit €18m

Profits at investment firm Farmer Business Developments approached €18 million last year aided by a record performance from its hotels and a dividend payment from insurer FBD Holdings.

Farmer Business Developments owns 24 per cent of FBD Holdings and hotels in the Republic and Spain, along with smaller investments.

The farmer-owned company said late on Wednesday that profits after tax last year grew 90 per cent to €17.93 million from €9.9 million in 2021.

A record performance from FBD Hotels and Resorts enabled the business to earn €18.75 million before tax and write-offs and boosted the investment company’s profits, according to its annual report.

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That included a nine-month contribution from the high-profile Kilashee Hotel, close to Naas in Co Kildare, which the company bought in 2022 for €25 million.

That division’s properties also include the Castleknock, Faithlegg and Heritage hotels in Dublin, Waterford and Laois, as well as two assets in Spain, the Sunset Beach Club and La Cala Resort.

FBD Holdings paid a dividend of €8.7 million to the company last year, resuming these payments after suspending them during the pandemic.

The returns from its investments grew shareholders’ funds to €272.5 million at the end of last year from €231 million 12 months earlier.

Farmer Business Developments is proposing to pay shareholders a dividend of 9 per cent a share, a 28 per cent increase on the 7 cent a share paid in 2022.

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Recently appointed chairman Pat Murphy paid tribute in the annual report to his predecessor, Pádraig Walshe, who died on February 1st.

“Pádraig played a huge role in the growth, development and diversification of our business in the interests of our farmer shareholders in his 17 years of service,” he says. “He was a strong advocate of the initial 50-50 joint venture and then the 100 per cent acquisition of FBD Hotels and Resorts, which has proved so successful.”

Mr Murphy noted that Mr Walshe’s father, Paddy, helped establish FBD Insurance in the 1960s.

Killashee Hotel

On the business, he confirmed that the 73 properties and five villa plots sold by the hotels business and partner, builder Taylor Wimpey, at La Cala, generated €10.7 million in cash.

The company has done a second deal with the builder to develop most of the remaining residential land at La Cala.

During the year Farmer Business Developments invested €3.6 million in the Killashee Hotel.

“We are pleased with the early progress of this asset under our management, which added circa 11 per cent to FBD Hotels and Resorts leisure earnings in its first nine months under our ownership,” said Mr Murphy.