€900,000 losses at Shelbourne Hotel

PRETAX LOSSES at the five-star Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin narrowed to over €900,000 in 2010.

At the end of 2010, Shelbourne Hotel Holdings Ltd owed €286.3 million to creditors, including bank loans of €137 million. The company's net liabilities stood at €191.6 million.

The pretax loss of €906,570 in 2010 compares to a pretax loss of €4.56 million in 2009. The improved performance comes despite a €500,000 fall in revenues to €22.3 million last year.

Accounts just filed with the Companies Office show the company increased operating profit by 69 per cent to €3.1 million. While bank interest payments of €4 million were sharply lower than the €6.4 million incurred in 2009, they were sufficient to push the group to a pretax loss.

The directors state that they are “disappointed” with the company’s result for the year but note that operating profits have improved last year despite further falls in turnover.

“The hotel’s trading performance continues to be profitable and key performance indicators have continued to improve throughout 2011,” a note to the accounts states.

The directors state they “are optimistic that operating profit . . . will continue despite the poor economic conditions that will prevail”.

Property developers including Bernard McNamara, David Courtney and Bernard Doyle purchased the property for €140 million in 2004 and spent millions on the refurbishment of the 265-room hotel.

Mr Doyle and Mr McNamara are no longer directors, but are two of five shareholders who advanced unsecured interest-free loans totalling €42 million to SHHL.The loss in 2010 takes account of non-cash depreciation cost of €1.32 million, showing the company made a cash profit of €416,139 for that year.