Merrion pre-tax profits rise to €1.6m

One of the best known five-star hotels in the country, the Merrion Hotel in Dublin, last year increased pre-tax profits by 7% to €1.6m.

This followed revenues at Hotel Merrion Ltd increasing by 6% from €15.32m to €16.25m in the 12 months to the end of October last year.

The Merrion is the hotel of choice for representatives of the troika when they arrive in Dublin to oversee the State’s finances and more recently was the Dublin base for Bruce Springsteen.

The strong pre-tax profits enjoyed in the last two years follow a modest pre-tax profit of €34,599 in 2010 and losses of €568,640 in 2009 and €607,500 in 2008.

The multi-award winning hotel comprises 123 rooms and 19 suites and guests can pay €249 for a standard room to €2,695 for the penthouse suite.

The pre-tax profit also takes into account the non-cash depreciation cost of €194,502 last year.

The hotel is controlled by businessman Lochlann Quinn, Glen Dimplex founder Martin Naughton, and the Hastings Hotel Group, the Northern hotel company controlled by Billy Hastings.

Separate accounts filed by the firm that owns the Merrion hotel, Landmark Investments Ltd, puts a book value of €45m on the property.

During last year, Hotel Merrion Ltd paid rent of €743,252 to Landmark and advanced additional funds of €412,585 to Landmark. Last year, Landmark recorded a loss of €1.72m arising chiefly from bank interest repayments of €1.16m.

The profit at Hotel Merrion Ltd last year resulted in the company achieving accumulated profits of €508,698 compared to an accumulated loss of €930,004 in 2011. Directors’ pay rose from €6.2m to €6.4m.

Cost of sales increased from €8.9m to €9.1m, and administrative expenses from €6.4m to €7.1m.