The company behind the Conrad Hotel in Dublin narrowed losses last year, but remained firmly in the red amid the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.
The five-star hotel posted a loss after tax of €3.6 million for the year to the end of 2021, compared to a €4.9 million loss a year earlier, according to accounts for Earlsfort Centre Hotel Proprietors Limited filed in Dublin. Revenue increased to €5.1 million from €3.7 million in 2020.
“The Covid-19 outbreak across the world has continued to significantly impact the trading of the company,” the directors wrote in the accounts. The hotel was open throughout the year under review, they said, but “at a much-reduced occupancy due to restrictions imposed by the Government”.
The hospitality industry was one of the sectors hardest-hit by Government rules to control the pandemic. The hotel was closed between April and July 2020 but has reopened since. Still, limitations on tourism and business travel since then have hobbled the industry overall.
While business improved from the second quarter of this year, the industry remains at risk from further waves of the virus and possible fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company said.
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“Management anticipate that it will take another three years at least for the key European cities, such as Dublin, to recover to their pre-Covid peaks,” they said. “More specifically, assets traditionally considered strongest (city centre, upscale, internationally branded) have been the hardest hit in the near term, although this trend is likely to be short-lived once office workers and international tourists start to return,” the directors added.
The business received €1.46 million in State pandemic supports in 2021, compared to just under €600,000 a year ago. There were no dividends paid during the year.
It retained cash at bank and in hand of €4.6 million, down from €6.1 million year-on-year.
Archer Hotel Capital bought the Dublin hotel in 2019 for about €115 million. That year the hotel made a profit of €1.7 million on revenue of €18.6 million. In June this year, An Bord Pleanála gave the go-ahead for the hotel to add an eight-storey extension and increase the number of rooms by 88 to 290.
Calls to Archer Hotel Capital’s London office were not immediately returned.
