Hotel Group see losses of €75m

THE Doyle Hotel Group saw pre-tax losses jump to €75.5 million last year following impairment charges of just more than €57m on hotel properties.

The losses for the year to the end of 2009 compare with pre-tax losses of €36.1m in 2008. Operating profit before exceptional items was €3.5m compared with €10.6m in 2008.

Accounts for Doyle Hotels (Holdings) Ltd also show an impairment on investment properties of €5.4m.

The group operates hotels in Ireland, Britain and the US. Turnover fell from €98.1m in 2008 to €84.7m last year, according to the accounts.

“The global economic downturn has impacted the performance of the Group’s hotels in all cities they operated in during 2009,” the accounts read.

The company undertook an extensive refurbishment programme last year and as part of this it wrote off fixed assets with a net book value of €3.78m to the profit and loss account.

The accounts said that the carrying value of each of the group’s hotels is compared to the recoverable amount.

“This resulted in a shortfall of €57.2m between the recoverable amount and the carrying value in one of the Group’s hotels at 31 December 2009,” the said.

The directors also said they have developed to address the risks to the Group.

The directors confirmed that they are satisfied that the firm and the group have adequate resources to continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

Staff costs fell from €36.9m to €32.4m in 2009.

Closing shareholders funds in the group at the end of last year were €234.5m, down from €302.2m in the previous year.

Directors remuneration last year was €288,000, down from €375,000 in 2008.

The Group, which was formally known as Jurys Doyle rebranded as the Doyle Collection about two years ago as part of a reorganisation that involved a €200m revamp of its hotels.

Jurys Doyle Hotel Group was taken private in 2005 for €1.1 billion, while Quinlan Private acquired Jurys Inns for €1.2bn in 2007.

The group said key risks and uncertainties facing the future development of the group include a further deterioration in the global economy, changes in inflation, an increase in interest rates and fluctuations in exchange rates.