A stay by US president Joe Biden and his entourage at the five star Conrad Hotel in Dublin in April 2023 contributed to hotel revenues increasing by 14.5 per cent from €18.68 million to €21.39 million last year.
However, pretax profits decreased by 18 per cent to €2.42 million for the 12 months to the end of September last.
Accounts filed by the company behind the hotel, Earlsfort Centre Hotel Proprietors (ECHP) Ltd, show that higher wage growth and supplier pricing brought about by high inflation contributed to the drop in pretax profits.
In a note with the accounts, the directors said the company’s results “continued to improve on 2022 through an increase in occupancy as well as an increase in the average rate charged, driven by the improvement in the Dublin market”.
The note said the company’s projections for 2024 “assume relatively limited growth in terms of room rates off the back of a strong 2023 with occupancies growing slightly across the year”.
The company was in a much stronger position compared with the prior year as the impacts of Covid-19 continued to lessen, the note said.
The hotel, which was sold to Dutch hotel investor, Archer Hotel Capital, in 2019 for a reported €118 million, recorded operating profits of €3.03 million last year. Interest payments of €616,966 resulted in pretax profits of €2.42 million.
The company recorded post-tax profits of €1.84 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €578,554.
The hotel is subject to a long-term management agreement with Hilton Hotels (Ireland) Ltd which operates the hotel under its Conrad brand.
Numbers employed increased from 175 to 179 as staff costs rose from €6.04 million to €7.18 million.
The company’s profits were also hit by “other operating income” made up of temporary business energy support scheme credits of €528,591 in 2022 decreasing to €65,350 last year.
The profits also take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.03 million in 2023.
At the end of September 2023, the company had shareholder funds of €10.96 million. Cash funds totalled €12.6 million.
On the principal risks and uncertainties facing the company, the directors list “reduction in international travel as a result of climate concerns of business and leisure travel”.
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