Prem Group to create 250 jobs with €350m expansion

Hotel management and serviced premises operator the Prem Group will create more than 250 jobs here this year in a major investment programme.

Four new hotels are to open in the Republic in the coming year, the group said. The new hotels are to operate under the group's Days Hotel franchiseand will be located at Dublin Airport, Park West business park in west Dublin, Kilkenny and Castlebar.

The group said yesterday it is to spend €350 million on a number of investments that will grow its portfolio by 50 per cent.

It also said it will open three new apartment complexes under its Premier Apartments brand at Dublin Airport, Galway and Sandyford. It already operates more than 400 serviced apartments in Ireland and England.

Two new hotels are due to open in Sheffield, England, creating 100 jobs there. Prem Group managing director Jim Murphy said the group is expanding at an "unprecedented rate".

"When we first set up the company ten years ago, we could not envisage how the company would develop and grow. We started off managing one hotel and now we are working with some of the biggest hotel brands in the world."

He said that the group had a turnover of €30 million last year and an operating profit of €500,000. It expects turnover to rise to €36 million this year, and operating profit to reach €850,000. "Obviously there's a lot of start-up costs there."

The Prem group is owned by property investor Paddy Kelly along with Mr Murphy, Peter Redden, and Gerry McNulty. Mr Redden and Mr McNulty were part of a group of Aer Lingus pilots who came together in 1989 to invest in Dublin's first all-suite hotel, Stephens Hall, Lower Leeson Street.

In 1996 most of the pilots sold their shares and Mr Kelly and the then general manager of Stephen's Hall, Mr Murphy, became shareholders. The group grew from there, branching into serviced apartments and serviced offices. Since 2003 it has been developing a number of hotel brands in Ireland the Britain.

Mr Kelly owns just over 80 per cent of the Prem Group. The group has been restructured and will focus on its hotel and serviced apartments. It is also looking to expand into northern Europe.

The group's model of separating hotel ownership from management has facilitated expansion, Mr Murphy said.