Business

Hotel operator Cliste bounces back from pandemic hit

Revenues at Inua Partnership company jumped nearly 50 per cent as hospitality rebounded

Cliste co-founder Sean O’Driscoll said the group’s energy bills across its portfolio of hotels plunged by 20-30 per cent in 2023 after peaking at about €4 million in 2022. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times

Ian Curran
Tue Jan 16 2024 - 18:45

Hotel management and consultancy business Cliste swung back into profit in 2022 as the hospitality sector charted a course for recovery after its shutdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recently filed accounts for Cliste Consultants, the entity behind the Inua Partnership which operates some 20 venues across the island, reveal an almost 50 per cent surge in revenues in the year to the end of December 2022 to nearly €4.2 million in the year.

The group, operates hotels including the five-star Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, as part of its portfolio, some of which are owned through a separate entity, Inua Hospitality Plc. Cliste, founded by Paul Fitzgerald and Sean O’Driscoll through a management buyout of Inua, also operates some venues under management contract, including the Big Tree bar and hotel in Dublin 1.

The wider group was expected to record revenues of €65 million in 2022, although Inua Plc is yet to file accounts for the trading year.

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Profits at Cliste Consultants, which operates the Hillgrove Hotel in Co Monaghan and the Radisson Blu hotels in Limerick City and Athlone, surged from €193,573 in 2021 to €553,669 after swinging to a nearly €150,000 loss in 2020 during the pandemic.

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In a report attached to the accounts, the directors said the business traded “exceptionally well” in 2022 and they were confident the company will increase profitability in 2023. Still, they noted the group’s “overreliance” on the hotel sector, which they identified as the principal risk facing the business.

Speaking to The Irish Times last October, Mr O’Driscoll said the group’s energy bills across its portfolio of hotels plunged by 20-30 per cent in 2023 after peaking at about €4 million in 2022, double the pre-Covid level.

He said food price inflation was running at about 15 per cent in the first half of 2023, while labour costs were 10 per cent higher, warning that the rise in the minimum wage slated for this month would put further pressure on payroll costs. “You have to be conscious that when the minimum wage goes up, everyone’s rate goes up.”

In December the group completed the acquisition of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Belfast for an undisclosed sum, in partnership with Warren Private. The venue is to be refurbished and rebranded as the Gasworks Hotel, opening later this year.

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times

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