Gleneagle hotel group reports loss of over €600,000

The holding company for the well-known Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney and its sister properties returned to the red in 2013, according to its latest accounts.

Gleneagle Holdings (Killarney) Ltd made a loss of €606,228 last year compared with a profit of €45,093 in 2012. Turnover declined by 2 per cent to €21.7 million.

The company controls the Gleneagle Hotel & Apartments, the neighbouring INEC event centre and Brehon Hotel, along with other property interests.

The accounts show that the company paid a dividend of €60,890 and closed 2013 with net debt of €28 million owed to AIB.

Stopped short

The company’s auditors included a so-called “emphasis of matter” note but stopped short of qualifying the accounts.

Killarney-based O’Brien Coffey & Co said that in forming its opinion it considered the adequacy of the disclosures made in a note to the accounts about the appropriateness of preparing them on a going concern basis. “We consider it should be drawn to your attention but our opinion is not qualified in this respect,” the auditors said.

The going concern note states that a cross company guarantee is held by AIB for the debt of all group companies, some of which are in a “net liability position”.

“The group has the support of its bankers and continues to be in a position to pay debts as they fall due,” the accounts add.

It is understood that the company’s loan agreement is due to renewed in the first quarter of next year.

Downward adjustment

Manjit Gill

, the company’s finance director, said the loss last year was attributable in part to a revaluation of its properties by CBRE, which resulted in a downward adjustment of €3.8 million.

He said that 2014 has been a better trading year for the group and he expects it to return to profit. “We will see much stronger results for this year,” he told The Irish Times.

“The occupancy and room rates have been a lot stronger this year and the events business has done well.”

The accounts show that the company’s cost of sales rose by 4 per cent to €6.3 million but its administrative expenses declined by 2 per cent to €15.2 million. Its interest bill rose to €903,473 last year from €656,176 in 2012.

The average number of employees decreased to 357 from 374 but its total staff costs rose by 1.2 per cent to just under €9.1 million.

Last year’s loss had the effect of reducing shareholders funds to €1.4 million from just over €2 million at the end of 2012.

The Gleneagle group is owned by managing director Patrick O’Donoghue and other members of his family.