Doyle Collection hotel group profit increases by €11m

The Irish-owned Doyle Collection hotel group recorded an €11.1 million increase in its after-tax profit in 2015, helped by a strengthening of sterling and the dollar against the euro during the year.

Accounts just filed for Doyle Hotels (Holdings) Ltd show that its after-tax profits rose to €31.1 million in the year to the end of December 2015. This compared with a profit of €20 million in the previous financial period.

The hotel group’s turnover rose by 18.8 per cent to €133 million while its ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) before exceptional items increased by 11 per cent to €28.3 million.

Shareholders’ funds at year end stood at €329 million, up 26.5 per cent year on year.

Turnover

In terms of turnover, its revenue in Ireland increased by 19 per cent to €43.8 million, by 17 per cent in the UK to €63.3 million and by 21 per cent in the US to €25.8 million.

The Doyle Collection operates three hotels in Ireland (the five-star Westbury and Croke Park in Dublin, and the River Lee in Cork), four in Britain (three in London and one in Bristol) and the Dupont Circle in Washington DC.

The hotel chain, which is owned by members of the Doyle and Beatty families, undertook a revaluation of its properties at the year end, booking an uplift of €53.8 million in value since the last one was performed at the end of 2012.

Its trading performance improved in 2015 amid growth in the three economies in which it operates and “focused” capital investment across its bedrooms, bars, restaurants and meeting spaces.

This process has continued into 2016 with recently completed projects including the Wilde Restaurant at the Westbury Hotel, which has been fully renovated. The group has also invested in the Dalloway Terrace restaurant and the Bloomsbury Club at its Bloomsbury Hotel in London. These opened in May.

And it has refurbished suites at the Marylebone Hotel in London, which now benefit from covered outdoor terraces.

The hotel company closed 2015 with net debt of €206 million. Its loan facilities amounted to €238.4 million, of which the “substantive amount” falls due for repayment in November 2017.

In terms of the UK's decision to leave the European Union, the Doyle Collection said it was too early to judge the impact of Brexit on its business but added that it would continue to invest in its British assets.

The group also noted that it had considerable experience of dealing with currency fluctuations, having operated in the UK for the past 20 years.

The accounts show staff costs rose last year by 9 per cent to €41.8 million with total employee numbers rising by 72 to 1,187. Directors’ remuneration rose marginally to €958,000. This included directors’ fees of €396,000. Its net pension deficit almost halved last year to €9.2 million.