STRONG growth in tourist and commercial business across the Ryan Hotels group this year was behind the 31 per cent surge in half year pre tax profits to £1.6 million.
Announcing interim results for the hotel group yesterday, chairman, Mr Conor McCarthy said he believed the prospects for the rest of the year were good, with the upward trend in business likely to continue.
On the back of the favourable results, shareliolders are to be paid an interim dividend of 0.625p per share, a 25 per cent increase over last year.
The group enjoyed a particularly strong performance in its Irish and continental European markets in the six months to the end of June, Mr McCarthy said.
Turnover increased by 5 per cent to £13.9 million over the six months with room sales strongly up within the Irish and British markets, mainly due to good demand for its Ryan hotel break packages. Room sales from the Irish market rose by 12 per cent, while sales in Britain were up by 35 per cent on the same period last year.
The growth in sales of these packages also has helped to improve its operating margins, bringing them up from 18.2 per cent in the same period in 1995 to 19.5 per cent at the end of June.
The group, which has taken a policy decision to substantially invest in improving and adding new facilities at its hotels, said returns on these investments were "above expectations" to date. The facilities, which include a new leisure centre in Galway, had received a positive reaction from customers, said Mr McCarthy.
The mix of business at the Ryan Hotel group is broadly 50 per cent tourist related and 50 per cent commercial, according to Mr McCarthy. Group occupancy rates remain high at 77 per cent he said, while it has also been able to increase its yield on group room sales by 10 per cent this year.
