Beacon Hospital earnings trebled to €7.2m last year

Earnings at Dublin’s Beacon Hospital increased more than threefold last year to €7.2m, new figures show.

New accounts filed by Beacon Medical Group Sandyford Ltd and subsidiaries confirm that revenues increased 10% to €82.2m in the 12 months to the end of June 2014.

Group chief financial officer, Daragh Kavanagh said that the hospital “goes from strength to strength” with revenues and patient numbers up around 10% in the current year.

Mr Kavanagh said: “The growth trajectory is continuing and the performance is greatly improved. We would feel really, really positive about the hospital and last year’s performance was very strong.”

The Beacon opened as a private 183-acute-bed hospital in 2006 and the jobs were made secure there last year after the intervention of businessman Denis O’Brien.

The accounts show that the hospital did record a pre-tax loss of €6.4m last year and this arose from net interest payments of €9.49m.

However, Mr Kavanagh said the hospital paid no interest last year as Mr O’Brien, who has taken over the hospital’s loans, did not seek the interest payments and the €9.49m appears in the accounts as an accrual: “No interest was paid and the interest payments as they appear in the accounts had no impact on the performance of the business.

“The true metric of the business is the hospital’s EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and rent) and that was €7.2m, up from €2m from the previous year,” Mr Kavanagh added.

“Mr O’Brien bought the loans, totalling €212m, from Ulster Bank and the former owners UPMC and as a result, the business is debt free.”

Mr Kavanagh said Mr O’Brien’s focus is not about the hospital paying him back money but supporting the hospital in expanding its services.

Located in Sandyford, South Dublin, Beacon Hospital is one of the most advanced hospitals in Europe, with over 200 consultants and 600 nurses and healthcare professionals.

The hospital, which has 183 acute beds, nine operating theatres and two linear accelerators, treated around 100,000 patients in 2014. Staff employed at the hospital last year rose to 616 with costs rising from €34.9m to €35.7m.