Slieve Russell Hotel primed for €30m new year sale

The Slieve Russell Hotel is set to hit the market early in the new year with a price tag of over €30 million.

The four-star Cavan hotel, which once formed part of former billionaire Sean Quinn’s business empire, comprises 224 bedrooms, a spa and leisure centre, along with an 18-hole championship golf course and a nine-hole academy course.

The sale of the property, which sits on 300 acres on the outskirts of Mr Quinn’s hometown of Ballyconnell will be conducted on behalf of the liquidators of IBRC, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson of Interpath Advisory.

The Irish Times understands the liquidators invited pitches in recent weeks from a number of commercial property advisors, with a view to offering the hotel for sale in the first quarter of 2024.

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While the Slieve Russell has been under the control of receivers for the IBRC since April 2011, it is a hugely successful business in its own right. The latest accounts for Slieve Russell Hotel Property Ltd show that the Cavan venue more than doubled its pre-tax profits to €5.02 million last year.

The company recorded a 108 per cent increase in profits as revenues increased almost threefold from €6 million to €16.47 million in the 12 months to the end of June 2022, its latest accounts show.

In a note accompanying the accounts, the hotel’s directors said that trading results since the end of June 2022 had “been excellent and have outperformed the original budget prepared for the hotel with the business back on track to return to pre-Covid-19 trading levels”.

The note added that the company’s 2023 budget indicated that a positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would be achievable.

In the 12 months to the end of June last, the hotel business benefited from “other operating income” of €3.28 million that included Government Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme payments and the Covid restrictions support scheme (CRSS).

Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 208 to 240, and staff costs more than doubled from €3.75 million to €7.38 million.

While the sale of the Slieve Russell is likely to secure in excess of the €30 million probable guide price, the amount secured will fall far below the figure owed by the hotel’s parent firm to the IBRC. At the end of 2022, this stood at €66.07 million, according to the latest accounts.