Current Account hears that an investor group headed by Yeoman boss Paul Coulson and former Goodbody stockbroker Ray French has made a tidy €3 million profit from its investment in the Nasdaq-listed hotels group Suburban Lodges.

Word has it that the Coulson-French group bought a 6.5 per cent stake in Suburban Lodges between June, 2000, and April, 2001, at prices between $6 and $6.50 in the belief that the hotel group's net asset value was significantly higher than the price they paid.

Now the group has cashed in its investment at more than $9 a share after Suburban Lodges agreed to a takeover by the privately owned InTown Suites.