In the year leading up to the end of last September, the four-star Mespil Hotel in Dublin witnessed a 44% rise in pre-tax profits, leading to a total of €4.95 million. Reports indicate that Mespil Hotel Ltd observed a surge in earnings due to a 38% increase in revenue from €10.93 million to €15.15 million within this period.
The Sligo Park Hotel Ltd, the parent company, received an interim dividend payment of €2 million by the directors during the year. The directors highlighted that the hotel’s performance improved over the year due to a resurgence of normal levels of activity within the travel and tourism sectors. They also noted that the operational trend has been sustained at pre-pandemic levels since the year’s end.
2020 revenues were severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic with a nosedive to €4.76 million. However, Mespil Hotel Ltd was granted planning permission by the Dublin City Council in the last December to augment the Mespil Road property with an additional 47 bedrooms, taking the total count to 306 hotel rooms. This included plans for a new hotel floor. The firm’s commitments for capital expenses at year-end stood at €1.98 million.
The Mespil takes advantage of its situation by hosting rugby internationals and live concerts at the Aviva, including recent performances by Taylor Swift. Employment numbers swelled from 124 to 131, while staff costs escalated from €3.8 million to €4.9 million. The directors’ compensation, including pension contributions, surged 59 per cent to €756,234 from €475,545.
Accounting for non-cash depreciation costs of €1.1 million, the firm reported losses last year. Nevertheless, it reported an “other operating income” of €212,096, a figure significantly lower than the previous year’s €700,234 under the same heading. Separately, Sligo Park Hotel Ltd declared operating profits of €1.024 million for the last year, following the enhanced revenue of €8.92 million, up 21% from €7.34 million. Finally, the company reported post-tax earnings of €4.2 million after a corporation tax charge of €747,686. The cumulative profits by the end of last September were €25.72 million.
In British English, Mespil Hotel Ltd delivered a dividend of €2 million, culminating in pretax earnings totalling €3.024 million. The firm subsequently distributed an equity dividend amounting to €4 million within the previous year. As the workforce headcount grew from 117 to 126, the aggregate expense on staff amounted to €3.55 million. Specifically, the remuneration for directors hit a sum of €554,041. Also, by the end of this past September, the company’s retained earnings had escalated to €10.08 million.