Johnny Ronan firm sells off Paris property to cover debts

Gordon Deegan

Johnny Ronan’s property group this month sold its Paris property for €24.5 million to help pay down the group’s debt.

New consolidated accounts filed by Mr Ronan’s Ardquade Ltd also reveal that this year Mr Ronan advanced a loan to the group which was used to repay “a substantial part” of the group’s junior debt.

As of December 30th, 2021, the group’s senior and junior debt totalled a combined €194.88 million.

The continuing efforts to pay down the group’s debt is disclosed in new accounts for Mr Ronan’s Ardquade Ltd, which show that pre-tax losses narrowed at the business last year by €20.35 million, or 67 per cent to €9.98 million.

Ardquade Ltd reduced its pre-tax losses as revenues rose by 6pc from €22.37 million to €23.71 million.

The pre-tax loss takes account of a non-cash write down of €3.3 million in the value of the group’s investment property portfolio along with exceptional costs of €1.9 million.

The business recorded an operating profit of €6.93 million and net interest payments of €16.92 million resulted in the pre-tax loss of €9.98 million.

On the group’s prospects, the directors state that “the group has a strong pipeline of projects, an impressive delivery history, and an experienced development team to ensure that the projects are successfully delivered”.

The directors reveal that this month, the group sold its property in Paris for €24.5 million “with the proceeds being used to reduce secured lending facilities”.

In March of this year, the group’s senior lender appointed a receiver following the group’s senior and junior facilities expiring in January.

In July, the receivership ended after the group refinanced the senior lenders’ facility.

A note attached to the accounts states that the group is in discussions with new lenders to replace the existing junior debt.

Debt refinancing

The note states that if the group successfully refinances junior debt before agreed dates, the obligation to pay exit fees of €20.7 million to the junior lender will be revoked fully or partially.

The group owes €13.6 million to its directors, €8.86 million to other participating interests and €6 million to a connected company.

They state that the group continued to progress projects, where it will receive income streams, such as the former Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the Waterside site.

Ardquade’s 2021 revenues were made up of €11.3 million in rent, management fees of €10.24 million and other income of €2.16 million.

The directors state that despite the impact of Covid-19 on property values last year, "the group’s real estate portfolio continues to perform strongly in terms of income generation and the directors will continue to grow the business for the upcoming financial year".

The directors state that the group is continuing to collect its rental and management fee income in full and service the interest on all of the group’s facilities.

The directors state that they are confident that the group will continue its growth and improve its trading position in 2023.

Pay to directors last year declined by €78,000 to €1.274 million, made up of emoluments of €1.22m and pension contributions of €46,787.

Numbers employed totalled 21 with staff costs of €2.16 million.

The group, which holds the personal business interests of Mr Ronan and members of his family, had a shareholders’ deficit of €2.82 million as of December 30th last. Its cash funds increased from €7.3 million to €10.55 million during the year.

Ardquade owned investment properties were valued on its books at €200 million as of December 30th last.