Revenues more than double to €48.32m at former Jury's Inn group

Gordon Deegan

Revenues at the Leonardo chain of hotels, formerly Jury’s Inn, last year more than doubled to €48.32m as the business recovered from the Covid impact on the tourism industry.

New accounts filed by Fattal Leonardo Operation (Ireland) Ltd - formerly Fattal Jurys Operation (Ireland) Ltd - show that the 128pc surge in revenues from €20.29 million to €48.32 million resulted in the business returning to profit to record pre-tax profits of €4.18 million.

The profit last year takes account of a non-cash write off of €8.49 million as the business changed its brand from Jury’s Inn to Leonardo in the UK during 2022.

The directors state that they deemed it appropriate to write off the brand intangible on December 31st last as all franchise fee income generated by the company ceased upon the UK hotels’ rebrand.

The firm’s franchise fee income in 2022 was €7.6 million - a 50 per cent rise on franchise income of €5.059 million in 2021.

The rebranding of the Irish operation has taken place this year and the move brings to an end an association between the Jurys name and Irish hotels that dates back to 1839.

The entire Jurys Inn portfolio was acquired by the Fattal Hotel group, which is owned by Israeli billionaire David Fattal, in 2017.

The business operates five Leonardo hotels in ‘prime city locations’ in the Republic and Northern Ireland including Leonardo hotels in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

The directors state that last year’s results were "primarily driven by the global market’s general trend of recovery from COVID-19”.

They state that health and travel restrictions imposed were completely lifted during the year "which in turn resulted in strong domestic demand and occupancy, with the market activities returning to pre-pandemic levels”.

The directors state that the business hotels have "a low-cost business model, charging its customers rates that vary depending on levels of demand”.

They state that this reduces, though does not eliminate, the financial impact arising from adverse economic conditions.

The firm’s operating profits increased almost eight fold from €660,000 to €5.17 million.

The company’s franchise income of €7.6 million offset by finance expenses of €8.59 million resulted in the pre-tax profit of €4.18 million.

Numbers employed increased from 347 to 405 during the year and staff costs more than doubled from €4.67 million to €11.37 million.

Pay to directors, including pension payments, increased from €288,000 to €302,000.

The profit also takes account of combined non-cash depreciation costs of €8m.

At the end of December last, the firm had accumulated profits of €19.58m while its cash funds decreased from €1.05m to €790,000.