Revenue at Wright Group food and beverage business jumps to €35.6m

* Revenue at the Wright Group food and beverage business last year increased almost fourfold to €35.6 million.

Accounts for Treasure Trail Holdings Ltd show the group, which operates outlets in Dublin including at the airport, returning to a pretax profit of €3.96 million in the 12 months to the end of September 2022.

The pretax profit of €3.96 million followed a pretax loss of €1.02 million in 2021.

The group last year recorded an operating profit of €5.27 million and profits reduced after paying out €1.27 million in interest payments and €31,027 in exceptional costs.

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Revenue increased by €25.6 million from €9.97 million to €35.6 million.

The boost in business at the Swords headquartered firm coincided with passenger numbers at Dublin Airport topping 28.1 million – a 231 per cent increase on 2021.

Numbers employed by the group increased from 119 to 248, according to the accounts, and the group is continuing to expand after securing planning permission earlier this year for a €10 million plan to redevelop Howth Castle and transform it into a retail, food and tourist destination.

A spokeswoman said the business was now employing over 600 people.

The company is advancing the plans in partnership with Tetrarch Capital and the applicants have appealed against conditions in the planning permission, with An Bord Pleanála expecting to make a ruling in October.

The group’s balance sheet also benefited with a non-cash gain of €6.33 million increase in the valuation of the group’s property portfolio offset by a revaluation reserve deferred tax charge of €1.93 million.

Covid-19 impacted the business in the early part of the year and the group received €1.58 million in Government Covid-19 grants that followed the group receiving €2.74 million under that heading in 2021.

The pretax loss also takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €2.22 million.

The group recorded a post-tax profit of €3.56 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €398,077.

The group’s subsidiaries include a firm that operates Marqette food hall and bar at Dublin Airport.

The directors who served throughout 2022 are listed as Michael Wright, Ronan Galligan and Michael Gilbert Wright and directors’ pay last year more than doubled from €324,042 to €756,044.

It was made up of remuneration of €688,756 and pension contributions of €67,288.

At the end of September last, the group had shareholder funds of €7.73 million. The group’s cash funds increased from €2.36 million to €3.9 million.

* This story was edited on Tuesday, August 29th, 2023