Jurys Doyle to sell Limerick hotel for €9.75m

Jurys Doyle has agreed to sell its four-star Jurys Limerick Hotel to Galway businessman Mr John Lally for €9.75 million. The group is also looking at ways of "extracting value" from the rest of its portfolio of properties.

This process is expected to see a review of the group's prestigious Dublin 4 property, The Berkeley Court Hotel, with the construction of apartments on part of the fashionable site viewed as a possible option.

Jurys Doyle chief executive Mr Pat McCann pointed yesterday to "the very big surface car parks" on the Ballsbridge property, suggesting that the land was "very valuable".

"There is opportunity there," he said, adding that "something like apartments" could offer a significant opportunity. Mr McCann emphasised the company's intention to continue operating the Berkeley Court, whatever development option was undertaken.

Jurys Doyle recently secured planning permission for a 146-room extension at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.

The group is also considering the development options for its Cork property, where hotel operations are spread across a five-acre site.

It is also looking at the future of its 137-room hotel in Glasgow, with a view to a possible sale or upgrade. It is thought that a sale is the most likely option, with the hotel being one of Jurys Doyle's last remaining three-star hotels.

New Jurys Inns - seen as more central to the group's plans for growth - are due to open in Leeds, London's Chelsea and Dublin's Parnell Street before the end of the summer. A four-star property in Boston is also nearing completion.

The Limerick hotel that is being sold is the smallest within the group's portfolio. It has 95 bedrooms, whereas the average hotel in the group has 235 rooms.

In a statement to the Irish Stock Exchange, it said that, while the property was "well appointed", it did not fit within a strategy of operating larger hotels. "The group believes that it would be preferable to concentrate its activities locally on further developing the business of Jurys Inn Limerick, which has been in operation since 1997."

The €9.75 million to be paid by Mr Lally for the hotel marks a slight premium on the carrying value of the property.

Mr Lally operates The Harbour Hotel in Galway and has been involved with self-catering apartments in Westport and the development of the Athlone marina.

Mr McCann said the company had received offers from developers for the Limerick property in the past but had been keen to maintain it as a going concern.

The hotel has been part of the Jurys group since 1972, when it was bought from InterContinental. It does not operate in direct competition with Jurys Inn Limerick and is understood to be profitable. The sale is expected to be completed at the start of April.

Jurys Doyle will report full-year results next week.