Galway hotel records €32.6m profit

The Galway-based Connacht Hotel group booked a pre-tax profit of €32.6m in 2018.

According to new accounts filed by Connacht Hospital Group Ltd, the business recorded the pre-tax profit after recording a gain of €30m in the value of its investments.

The group operates the largest hotel in the west of Ireland, the Connacht in Galway.

Revenues during 2018 increased by 21% from €20.5m to €24.8m.

The profit for the year before the €30m gain is taken into account was €1.8m.

The directors state that they are satisfied with the financial performance of group for 2018.

They state that it is the intention of the directors to continue the current activities of the company and group The main activity of the firm is the operation of hotels, bars and restaurants.

The Connacht hotel contains over 350 hotel rooms.

The hotel - formerly the Galway Ryan hotel - celebrated its 50th year in business last year.

After the hotel was rebranded as the Connacht Hotel in 2013, 300 rooms were added.

The hotel sector in Galway is booming and it benefits from the Wild Atlantic, Way, the annual Galway International Arts Festival along with the Galway Races jamboree.

A breakdown of the numbers employed show that 146 are engaged in catering and house-keeping with 50 engaged as administration and managers with 120 categorised simply as ‘employees’.

Staff costs totalled €4.8m.

Pay to directors increased from €226,656 to €242,207.

The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €632,635.

At the end of December 2018, the firm’s shareholder funds totalled €32.8m.

The group’s cash pile increased from €2.49m to €3m.