Jurys disappointed at poor Dublin results

Jurys Doyle Hotel Group said yesterday that the performance of its Dublin properties so far this year has been disappointing.

In a trading statement released at the company's annual general meeting, chairman Richard Hooper said profits in the UK and United States were ahead of last year but added that the "performance across our Dublin hotels was very disappointing".

During the meeting, Mr Hooper told shareholders that the market for hotel rooms in Dublin was oversupplied.

There are over 14,000 rooms in the city, which has put prices under pressure as a result, chief executive Pat McCann said afterwards. "There's a lot more product for the same business," he said. "I was just looking at a report for Dublin that shows it's the second-lowest in Europe in terms of achieved room rates."

The meeting heard that the group has yet to decide its Ballsbridge site's future. The site has three hotels, Jurys Ballsbridge, Jurys Towers and the Berkeley Court.

The board has been exploring options for the site and three hotels in light of the changed conditions in the Dublin market.

It has been suggested that the group could sell the Berkeley Court, which Merrion Capital analyst Bríd White recently estimated could fetch between €36 and €45 million.

However, Mr Hooper refused yesterday to speculate about the final outcome of the process. "We are getting very close to making a final decision on this area," he said. He said the fact that it was "probably the most superb site in the whole of Dublin" placed an added pressure on the board.

Mr McCann said the group was not contemplating a scenario where there would be no hotels at all on the site. "This is a very important site for us," he said.

The group plans to open three new properties during 2005.