The owners of Dublin nightclub Copper Face Jacks and the adjoining Jackson Court Hotel have reported a near tenfold increase in profits in the year to the end of January 2023, following a strong post-pandemic rebound in its business.
Latest accounts for Breanagh Catering Ltd, the company that operates the high-profile Harcourt Street nightclub and hotel, show it achieved turnover of €11.36 million in the 12 months to January 31st 2023, and a gross profit of €10.05 million.
This is up from revenues of just €1.4 million in the previous financial year, and gross profit of €1.27 million.
The company recorded a pretax profit of €3.1 million last year compared with a loss of €522,782 in the previous 12 months.
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Owned by Cathal and Paula Jackson, the nightclub and hotel had been closed for 10 months of the 2022 financial year due to pandemic restrictions. In a statement accompanying last year’s accounts, the pair said it had been a “very challenging period” for the business.
The nightclub and hotel took a cumulative €20.7 million revenue hit during the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having been closed for 18 months in the initial Covid-19 wave, the nightclub reopened in October 2021 only to shut again in early December with the spread of the Omicron variant. It reopened on a full-time basis towards the end of January 2022.
The majority of revenue in the fiscal 2023 financial year came from bar and nightclub sales, which jumped to €10 million, up from sales of €1.34 million a year earlier, which was dominated by pandemic closures.
In terms of revenues for the 36-bedroom Jackson Court Hotel, accommodation sales reached €1.35 million last year , up from just €63,632 in 2022.
Employee numbers at the nightclub and hotel jumped from 34 to 135 in the year, with the company reporting a growth in its staffing costs from €1.17 million to €4.18 million.
In the latest financial accounts, company directors Cathal and Paula Jackson did not list Covid-19 among the current risks for the business.
2023: The year in business
However, they noted “increased competitiveness in the hotel and licensed trade sector”, as well as exposure to general economic conditions in Ireland, and said the company was “continuously working on managing its overheads to reduce costs and improve profitability”.
Before the onset of the pandemic, the nightclub and hotel were put up for sale in 2019, with industry sources estimating that the property encompassing 28-31 and 35 Harcourt Street could fetch up to €40 million. However, the property was later taken off the market.
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