Temple Bar pub group’s pre-tax profits hit €3.8m

The owners of the Oliver St John Gogarty pub in Dublin’s Temple Bar last year wrote up pre-tax profits totalling €3.8m.

The Martin Keane-controlled Drayton House Holdings Ltd operates the well-known pub named after the Dublin literary figure immortalised in James Joyce’s Ulysses, where he appeared as Buck Mulligan.

Every year, tens of thousands of tourists descend on the Oliver St John Gogarty pub and new figures for Drayton show that the pub contributed to revenues increasing by 6% from €10.79m to €11.45m at the group in the 12 months to the end of Feb 28 last.

The group also operates Blooms Hotel, which contains M nightclub, in the Temple Bar area and the accounts show the group’s pre-tax profits rose by 48% from €2.57m to €3.8m.

The group’s profits were boosted by an exceptional gain of €1.45m arising from a revaluation of the 100-bedroom Blooms, rising from €8.5m to €10m.

The independent valuers also increased the value of Gogarty’s hostel from €631,600 to €2.39m.

The overall increase in the value of the firm’s property portfolio totalled €3.2m. This resulted in the group’s total profits for the year amounting to €5.25m. This included a tax gain of €330,703.

The firm’s operating profits increased by 26% from €1.88m to €2.37m last year.

Cost of sales totalled €2.5m, while administrative expenses amounted to €6.5m.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of some €229,946.

The numbers employed by the group last year decreased from 113 to 105, with staff costs reducing from €2.77m to €2.54m. The figures show that the number of administrative staff totalled 59, bar staff 42, and construction staff four.

The directors’ aggregate remuneration last year dropped marginally from €106,460 to €105,800.

At the end of February last, the firm had €21.62m in accumulated profits with shareholder funds standing at €26.8m. This included a revaluation reserve of €5.1m.

The firm’s cash during the year increased from €79,007 to €1.247m.

The amount owed by the firm to directors, Martin Keane and Vera Keane last year reduced from €497,407 to €438,385.

The amount owed by the firm in corporation tax at the end of last year totalled €102,603.