Pretax profits at the four-star Clarence hotel in Dublin’s Temple Bar last year more than trebled to €1.43 million.
New accounts filed by hotel operator Brushfield Ltd show that pretax profits iwent from€457,083 to €1.43 million as revenues rose by €2 million from €2.8 million to €4.85 million in the 12 months to the end of May last year.
In March of this year, Paddy McKillen Jnr 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 €355 million and gave LHC and Elliott a stake of more than 70 per cent.
The deal came only months after Bono, The Edge and Paddy McKillen Snr sold the Clarence hotel last October to the Dean Hotel Group.
The deal ended Bono and The Edge’s connection with the four-star 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”.
The 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 in 2023.
The profit also takes account of rent expense of €770,080 last year.
Numbers employed last year totalled 47 as staff costs amounted to €1.09 million.
The new owners have already moved to exploit the continuing high demand for hotel rooms in the capital with planning documents lodged with An Bord Pleanála recently confirming that the preparation of the planning application for the Clarence and Dollard House is under way and the consultation with the Council has commenced.
The planning application is to involve a comprehensive conservation, refurbishment and reuse 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 planning grant of permission came only three months before the Covid-19 pandemic which shut down the hospitality industry for much of the following two years.
The documentation said that the preparation of the new planning application “will take a number of months”.
