TETRARCH BUYS HOWTH CASTLE AND 470 ACRES IN MULTIMILLION DEAL - Irish investment group Tetrarch has agreed a deal in principle to acquire Howth castle and demesne from the Gaisford-St Lawrence family in a multi-million euro deal.
The sale includes the Deer Park Hotel and golf courses, and is subject to the parties agreeing legally-binding contracts and completing due diligence. Tetrarch plans to redevelop and reopen the Deer Park Hotel as a luxury property, and to transform the golf courses, drawing on its recent experience in redeveloping the Mount Juliet estate in Co Kilkenny. It is understood that some of the site might lend itself to residential development, writes the Irish Times. Howth castle and demesne covers more than 470 acres of walled gardens, woodland, heathland and rhododendron gardens, and has views over Dublin Bay and Howth Harbour. It includes a cookery school, and is open for tours during the summer. The estate has been owned by the St Lawrence family for more than 840 years. The 16 staff employed on the estate were informed of the deal on Thursday evening. Commenting on the deal, Julian Gaisford-St Lawrence said: "The opportunity to sell the estate to a suitably experienced investor whose management is committed to maintaining the integrity of its history, heritage and architecture, while realising its full potential as one of Ireland’s leading historic tourist destinations, is one that we welcome. We believe we have identified a partner in Tetrarch, who has the ambition and the resources to deliver an exciting and secure future for this unique location in a manner that would greatly benefit our many visitors, staff and the local community," he added.
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AUSTRALIAN EXPLORER SET TO DRILL AT IRISH VICTORIAN-ERA MINE - The Australian minerals explorer Hannan Metals is to start a drilling programme at a prospect in Clare.
The site is an extension of Hannan's prospect at nearby Kilbricken and is the location of a Victorian-era mine. Modern seismic data indicates the potential to produce zinc and lead, says the Irish Independent. "The project has essentially waited 180 years to be drill tested," said Hannan chief executive and chairman Michael Hudson. The company has received permission for the campaign from the local authority - circumventing a problem that has befallen the industry after a legislative foul-up by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment. The Department is working to remedy the problem which meant it lost the power to issue new drilling permits. It apologised to the industry, saying it recognised the "significant impact" the issue was having. The problem sprung from fresh legal advice to the effect that a piece of European legislation, relating to environmental impact assessments (EIAs), did in fact cover mineral exploration drilling, where previously the Department had believed that drilling activities were not covered. That required Irish law to be redrafted to allow the Department to get back the power to issue the permits.
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COSTS TAKE BITE OUT OF MILANO PIZZA PROFITS - Operating profits at the firm behind the Milano chain of pizza restaurants fell by 3.5%, to €4.66m, last year due to continued cost pressures and increased competition.
Newly filed accounts for Agenbite Ltd show a slower rate of revenue growth of 9% to €25.2m, says the Irish Examiner. "Whilst the rate of turnover growth is slightly lower than in the previous period, the performance is considered to be encouraging given the continuation of challenging market conditions, including the continuing increase in competition in the casual dining industry," the company said. Rental or operating lease costs decreased from €3.6m to €2.6m, but the business incurred a €600,000 impairment charge. The company said it would continue to grow organically and through new openings. One Milano outlet opened last year, in Newbridge. Employee numbers rose to 541 and staff costs totalled €8.46m. Milano operates 10 outlets in Dublin as well as in Newbridge, Limerick, Galway, Cork, Ennis, and Killarney.
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UK RAIL COLLEGE STRUGGLES TO ATTRACT STUDENTS - Train services in Britain are regularly overcrowded, but a year after the world's first high-speed train college opened with the capacity to train 3,200 engineers a year, the National College of High Speed Rail is only teaching 96 students and faces a £7.5m deficit.
The two state-of-the-art campuses opened in Birmingham and Doncaster in September 2017 to train a new generation of engineers to work on Britain’s controversial HS2 railway line, which is officially projected to cost £55.7 billion and will stretch from London to Birmingham in its first phase, writes the Financial Times. Instead, just 47 students were enrolled over both sites at its opening in September last year, and 96 now, according to board minutes from the rail college, which were first reported by the trade magazine Construction News. The minutes from February’s board meeting, attended by Mark Thurston, chief executive of HS2, note that "attention focused on the fact the cash flow goes from positive to negative in September 2018". The same minutes project a £7.5m funding shortfall over the next seven years, noting that the government is aware of the funding issues, with talks already held between the Department for Transport, the Department for Education and HS2. Measures to "mitigate the impact" outlined in the minutes include the appointment of a sales officer to recruit students and the possibility of promoting college places in India, where there is "momentum about high-speed rail".
