New accounts filed by hotel operator Brushfield Ltd show that pre-tax profits increased by 214pc from €457,083 to €1.43m as revenues rose by €2m from €2.8m to €4.85m in the 12 months to the end of May last year.
Last March, Paddy McKillen Jr and business partner Matt Ryan sold a majority stake in the Dean Hotel Group, that included the boutique Clarence Hotel, to British property group Lifestyle Hospitality Capital (LHC) and Elliott Investment Management, the New York-headquartered investment giant founded by billionaire Paul Singer.
The deal valued the hotels at about €355m and gave LHC and Elliott a stake of more than 70pc.
It came after Bono, The Edge and Paddy McKillen Sr sold the Clarence Hotel last October to the Dean Hotel Group.
The deal ended the U2 pair’s connection with the hotel after more than three decades of ownership. However, the hotel continues to trade on its U2 association with the hotel website stating that the hotel is “also known as the ‘U2 Hotel’ or ‘Bono Hotel’ in Dublin”.
New accounts show that the profits for last year take account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €303,201.
The firm had received Covid-19 grant support of €515,597 in the prior year but that reduced to zero last year.
The profit also takes account of rent expense of €770,080 last year. Numbers employed last year totalled 47 as staff costs amounted to €1.09m.
The new owners have already moved to exploit the continuing high demand for hotel rooms in the capital. Planning documents lodged with An Bord Pleanála recently confirmed that the preparation of the planning application for the Clarence and Dollard House is under way, and consultation with the council has commenced.
The planning application is to involve a comprehensive conservation, refurbishment and re-use proposal for the Clarence and Dollard House.
Brushfield had previously obtained planning permission in December 2019 for a 56-bedroom extension to the Clarence.
However, the permission came only three months before the pandemic, which shut down the hospitality industry for much of the following two years.
The preparation of the new planning application “is to take a number of months”.