The Carton House hotel resort in Co Kildare returned to operating profit in 2021 as revenues more than doubled to €8.94 million "following a strong recovery from the pandemic".
New accounts for the Belmullet Hospitality Group Ltd that operates Carton House Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort in Maynooth show that the business recorded operating profits of €81,056 in 2021 and this followed an operating loss of €3.1 million in 2020.
The return to operating profit followed revenues increasing by 110% from €4.25 million to €8.94 million as the business was able to re-open and relaunch in early June 2021 with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
The resort regularly hosts the Irish men's rugby team at training camps and the directors' report states that "following a strong recovery from the pandemic, the directors are anticipating continued growth in 2022/23".
They state that "this is, in part, due in part to the strong growth in average room rate following the re-positioning of the business and significant investment in the product offering".
The directors said that "business has returned to pre-Covid levels and the outlook for the business is positive as demand for the re-positioned resort is high."
They state that "this demand from overseas markets such as North America is very encouraging and latest market intelligence is that this demand is set to continue into 2022/23".
A note attached to the accounts states that "the owners are committed to maintaining significant investment and support to this valuable asset and business over the coming years by funding working capital, interest payments and debt repayments as required".
The hotel resort was sold by the Mallaghan and Kelly families to Irish American businessman John Mullen for around €57m in 2017.
The directors state that the hotel has attracted a lot of positive PR since its re-opening and relaunch in June 2021 as a Fairmont Managed Hotel and this has also helped the business attract new talent.
The business recorded a pre-tax loss of €2.38 million in 2021 after taking non-cash depreciation cost of €1.69 million and interest payments of €767,501 are taken into account.
The €2.38m pre-tax loss is 83.5% down on the pre-tax loss of €14.5 million for 2020 that took account of a non-cash write down in property of €10 million.
The 2021 operating profit takes account of Government grants of €2.52 million.
As the Covid-19 restrictions eased, numbers employed increased from 86 to 168 as staff costs increased from €3.42m to €5.25 million.
At the end of 2021, the group had shareholder funds of €37.17 million. The group's cash funds increased from €3.23 million to €5.27 million.
