The company which operates the five-star Park Hotel Kenmare in Co Kerry recorded pretax losses of €877,932 in 2024 as its new owner invested €18 million in the property across 2024 and 2025.
Dublin-born and US-based entrepreneur Bryan Meehan purchased the 46 bedroom luxury hotel from high profile hoteliers and TV’s Brennan brothers, Francis and John Brennan and Executive Chairman at Glen Dimplex, Fergal Naughton in November 2023.
Accounts filed by Mr Meehan’s Forever Begin (Kerry) Ltd show that it recorded the pretax loss of €877,932 as revenues totalled €5.62 million from October 27th, 2023, to December 2024.
In their report, the directors state that the hotel earnings for the period after adding back depreciation, amortisation, acquisition costs and loan interest amounted to €228,305.
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Non-cash depreciation costs totalled €667,358 while interest costs totalled €300,000.
A spokeswoman for the hotel said on Thursday that the hotel has continued to trade strongly in the period to the end of December 2024 “with sales and earnings before interest, depreciation and once-off costs being in line with expectations of the directors”.
The spokeswoman said: “The focus for 2024 and 2025 has been on the redevelopment of the hotel, with a significant investment of circa €18m that has been internally financed without third party debt.”
“Twenty-twenty-six will see continued investment in capital projects at the hotel. This, along with the investment in delivering exceptional service levels, has allowed the company to achieve positive earnings before interest, depreciation and once-off costs levels in 2025, which are expected to continue into 2026 and beyond,” she said.
The directors “are confident in the future outlook of the hotel from an operational, commercial and financial perspective, and are focused on investing in the hotel, its staff, and the local community and economy”, the spokeswoman added.
She went to to say that “they are not prioritising profitability returns in 2025 and 2026, and expect that Full Year (FY) 2027 will reflect the true trading position of the company, post completion of the capital projects”.
Managing director Bryan Meehan said on Thursday that “since our family took ownership in November 2023 our primary goal has been to protect what makes the hotel so special – the connection to the community, farms, and surrounding land of Kenmare, the outstanding amenities we are proud to offer, and, most importantly, our incredible team, some of whom have been at Park Hotel Kenmare for upwards of four decades”.
Mr Meehan is the former chief executive and chair of Blue Bottle Coffee, the California-based ethical coffee company, a majority stake in which was sold to Nestlé in 2017 for more than €400 million.
