Value of Brandon Hotel written down by €7m

The value of the Brandon Hotel in Tralee, Co Kerry, was written down by more than €7 million in 2008, according to accounts filed recently by a company associated with it.

Prince’s Investments Ltd reported a loss of €8.3 million for the year, having written down the value of the hotel to €5.4 million from €12.4 million.

The company’s most recent set of accounts, for 2013, show it reported a €57,717 loss in that year and had accumulated losses at year’s end of €4.8 million. The value of its land and buildings was given as €5.4 million.

The accounts said there is strong competition in the industry and the main challenges facing the business were maintaining market share while also controlling costs. The company’s accounts were written up as a going concern on the basis of the commitment from its parent to provide funding.

The Brandon Hotel is one of Kerry's best-known hotels, long associated with the annual Rose of Tralee competition. One of the directors of Prince's Investments, Ciara Byrne, wife of the late property developer John Byrne, was the rose in 1962. Prince's Investments is part of the group of property companies headed by Carlisle Trust Ltd and ultimately owned by Prospect Holdings, a Cayman Islands company that is in turn owned by a Cayman Islands trust. The properties in the group include O'Connell Bridge House and D'Olier House in central Dublin.

There were 55 staff employed by Prince’s Investments in 2013, at a cost of €953,376, according to the accounts.

Accounts

Accounts for the years 2008 to 2013 were filed earlier this month. Over the period the number of staff has fallen from 100, and the annual cost has fallen from more than €2 million.

The accounts for the 14 months to the end of 2011 show that bank debt of €11.7 million owed at the outset of the period was reduced to zero, and that the amount due to a parent undertaking rose to €8.3 million from €2.3 million.

Apart from 2011, when the restructuring of its borrowings led to the company reporting a profit, it has been reporting annual losses over the period covered by the recently filed accounts. The trend has been towards smaller losses each year.

A judgment mortgage for €132,000 in favour of Quinn Insurance Ltd was registered against Prince’s Investments in 2009 and remains unsatisfied, according to filings.