Kings of the castle

TIFCO LTD, the hotel group that owns the Crowne Plaza hotels and operates hotels including the Burlington Hotel, Ashford Castle and Parknasilla in Kerry, posted operating profits of just under €5 million last year, a 30 per cent increase on 2010.

Turnover at the hotel group rose by 9 per cent, from €21.9 million in 2010 to just over €24 million last year.

Accounts for the year to October 31st, 2011, show the company posted pre-tax profits of €32,000. This compares to a loss of €47.8 million the previous year due primarily to a write-down in the value of its hotels and related assets and liabilities in 2010.

The company’s current assets exceeded its current liabilities by €13.8 million at the end of October.

Tifco Ltd owns the Crowne Plaza hotels in Santry, Blanchardstown and Dundalk, and the Holiday Inn in Santry.

It also manages a portfolio of hotels across the country, mainly on behalf of banks, receivers and the National Asset Management Agency (Nama). These include the Johnstown House Hotel, Burlington Hotel, Ashford Castle, Parknasilla Resort and Spa and Lough Erne Resort.

Separately, sister company Clontarf Castle Ltd, which operates the Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin, made an operating profit of €1.24 million, a 3 per cent increase on operating profits of €1.2 million posted the previous year. The company had retained profit of €778,585.

An increase in room occupancy plus tight control over costs contributed to the improved results for the year, the accounts state.

Clontarf Castle, purchased in 1973 by the group, opened as a four-star hotel and conference centre in 1998.

Both companies are controlled by Aidan Crowe and Gerry Houlihan, the owner of DID Electrical. The hotel group’s managing director, Enda O’Meara, is also a shareholder in the companies.

About 400 people are employed by the hotel group, with an additional 600 employed directly by the hotels managed by Tifco.

According to the accounts for Tifco, the strong operating-profit performance was achieved through a reduction in costs, an increase in occupancy levels and average room rates, and new hotel management contracts. Five new contracts were added during the year.

Mr O’Meara said that, while the company expected to achieve further growth in 2012, he was cautious about the year ahead. “One of the changes that has taken place in the hotel industry is that we now have much shorter lead times. Historically, a lot of advance business would be on the books for up to a year ahead. Now the lead time can be a month or two.”

He said that while the hotel and tourism sector had rebounded somewhat in 2011, there had been a fall in activity towards the end of the year and into 2012, reflecting uncertainty about the euro zone and concern about the budget.

The sector expects some uplift from the UK and US markets in 2012, helped in part by currency exchange rates, he said.