Luttrellstown Castle makes €4.7m loss

LUTTRELLSTOWN CASTLE, a Dublin golf resort which will close at the end of this year, made a loss of €4.7 million in 2006, according to accounts just filed.

The 560-acre estate, which is owned by businessmen JP McManus, John Magnier and Aidan Brooks, had retained losses of €18 million at the end of 2006.

The managers of the resort announced last year that the hotel and golf resort would close in December 2009 because the business was “no longer sustainable”.

Speaking at the time, Colm Hannon, the resort’s chief executive, said: “There has been a significant shortfall and losses have been incurred since we opened.”

Describing the decision as “regrettable”, he said he did not see that situation changing. He said the days of golfers paying entrance fees of €40,000 to €50,000 were “long gone”.

The Guernsey-registered firm behind the resort said in the accounts that the directors intended “to ultimately realise the land development potential of Luttrellstown Castle resort.”

The resort was valued at €40.8 million in December 2007, of which €32.5 million related to the golf course and clubhouse.

The resort, formerly owned by the Guinness family, was sold to French businessman Didier Primat in 1983 before it was bought by the present owners in 2006. Luttrellstown accounts show that it owed €59 million to its parent company, Lurson. The directors said the resort depended on support from its shareholders and banks, but that the owners would provide the required financial support for at least a year from last February.

The wage bill for the castle’s 46 staff rose to €1.4 million in 2006, while redundancy costs were €667,000 that year.

The resort, which recently completed a €20 million redevelopment, had fewer than 400 members.