Profits down 6.9% at retailer, hotel group

THE COMPANY behind the long-standing Wexford retailer Pettitt’s Supermarkets and the Talbot Hotel Group saw pretax profits fall 6.9 per cent to €2.15 million last year, according to documents just filed at the Companies Office.

Accounts for Torski Limited show its turnover fell slightly in a tough consumer environment, falling 1.6 per cent to €108 million.

Some €88.9 million of its turnover came from the supermarket trade, while the company also earned €17.9 million from its hotel interests, which include the Talbot Hotels in Wexford and Carlow as well as the Stillorgan Park Hotel in Dublin. Revenues in the hotel trade were under more pressure than in the supermarket division and fell 4 per cent.

Torski Limited’s net profits rose to almost €4.5 million, up from €1.7 million in 2009, largely as a result of a deferred tax charge credit of €2.3 million.

The company employed 816 people last year, up slightly on the year before. Directors’ remuneration including pension contributions arrived at €1.8 million last year, more than double the sum in 2009, the accounts show. Des Pettitt and Cormac Pettitt are the two shareholders of the company.

The Pettitt family has been in the retail business since 1825, when Des Pettitt’s great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather opened a grocery, wine and spirits shop on Wexford’s main street.

Jack Pettitt expanded the business in the middle of the 20th century, a task that was later taken up by his son, the current managing director and shareholder, Des Pettitt. In 2006, the firm joined SuperValu, the franchise group operated by grocery distributor Musgraves. There are now six supermarkets affiliated to the family.