Mount Wolseley resort in Co Carlow for sale at €12.5m

The owners of the Mount Wolseley resort in Co Carlow are seeking €12.5 million for the hotel, spa and golf course, and €1.75 million for the adjoining 16 lodges in the complex.

The resort is also available as a combined lot for €14.25 million, through selling agent CBRE.

The sale price is almost twice the €7.5 million investment made in the resort by Tetrarch Capital (then known as Brehon Capital) on behalf of a group of investors when it was acquired out of examinership in 2014.

Planning permission

The resort is on 170 acres and comprises a four-star hotel with 143 bedrooms and conference and banqueting facilities, a spa with 14 treatment rooms, and a health club that includes a 20m pool.

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It is also home to a championship golf course designed by the late Christy O’Connor junior.

The hotel, built in 1994, is described as "highly profitable" by the agents. No figures have been released but industry sources told The Irish Times that its Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) amounted to about €1.3 million.

There are also 16 four-bed lodges, which each measure about 153sq m (1,650sq ft). Permission was granted by Carlow County Council in February 2008 to build 20 houses on land close to the lodges. This has not been done and the permission is due to expire in January 2018.

A going concern

The complex is available on a freehold basis, with the hotel offered for sale on a going-concern basis, meaning that purchasers would be required to comply with legislation on employee transfers.

Latest accounts for Mount Wolseley Hotel, Golf & Country Club show that it had accumulated losses of just under €2 million at the end of 2015. This compared to a deficit of €2.2 million at the end of 2014, suggesting that the company made a profit in the following year.

There was a deficit in shareholders’ funds of €1.1 million at the end of 2015.

Its payroll costs amounted to €3.16 million for its 153 staff in 2015. This compared with costs of €3 million for its 149 staff in the previous financial period.

The accounts were signed off by directors last June and state that its ultimate parent company was Midwest Holdings AG in Switzerland.