Hobbs's property business posts €3.3m pre-tax loss

BRENDAN INVESTMENTS Pan European Property plc, the property investment business run by Eddie Hobbs and others, has reported a pre-tax loss of €3.3 million for the year to the end of January 2011.

The outcome compares with a pre-tax loss of €262,883 the previous year.

Brendan Investments raised approximately €13 million from investors in 2007 with a view to creating a leveraged fund that would invest in property in continental Europe.

The net value of the company’s assets as attributable to shareholders at the end of January 2011 was €8.78 million.

The accounts state that a Luxembourg-based subsidiary invested €15.7 million in the acquisition of a property in the Airport City in Dusseldorf in October 2008.

The building was rented to a German stock market-listed company, Arcandor, which because insolvent the following year. A claim for €15 million has since been lodged against the company though no allowance for the recovery of the amount has been made in the accounts.

The collapse of Arcandor led to an unplanned expenditure of €2.5 million on the refurbishment of the German building, according to the accounts.

“The remainder of the loss reflects the carrying cost of the building for the duration of the refurbishment period.”

The accounts state that the group has since managed to let the building to a number of tenants at levels not less than the amount being paid by the previous tenant.

The accounts show rental income for the year of €895,802, down from €975,893 the previous year.

The value of investment properties at year’s end was €26.49 million, only marginally below the previous year’s figure. The company has now fully committed its capital on German commercial property, with an investment in a Frankfurt Airport project being made during the financial year.

The directors received payments of €42,600 from the company for what were described as other services.

Bank loans at year’s end were €18.59 million, slightly below the previous year’s figure. During the year the company was invoiced by Brendan Investments Property Management Ltd for services valued at €360,000, including directors’ salaries of €107,000.

The four directors of both companies, Mr Hobbs, Vincent Regan, Hugh O’Neill and Dermot Flanagan, are the owners of BIPM Ltd.