Beannchor sales up £11m to £28m in latest accounts
Beannchor Group, the company behind Belfast’s five-star Merchant Hotel, hit £28m in sales in the year to June 2022, up from £11m in the year.
The firm also operates the city’s Bullitt Hotel and pizza chain Little Wing and has plans to open a sister venue of Bullitt Hotel in Dublin’s Capel Street.
A strategic report accompanying the accounts states that “overall the directors consider the results for the year to be satisfactory”.
Pre-tax profits at the business leapt from £2.9m to £6.3m, even though the cost of sales had multiplied from £1.8m to £5m.
There were 18 fewer staff employed in sales while administrative staff went from 10 to 12.
In the strategic report, the directors said that competition had remained strong in the market, with new hotel openings adding more bedrooms in the city.
And it said the risks and uncertainties facing the business included “the impact on tourism and hospitality as a result of rising costs, primarily utilities, from the ongoing war in Ukraine, food supplies as a result of inflation and continued shortages in workforce”.
It added: “That said it is pleasing to note that operations continue to deliver strong revenues for financial year 2023 ahead of projection.
“The business is backed by a valuable freehold property and our bank remains wholly supportive.”
Pubs in the Beannchor Group include The Dirty Onion in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and The National on the city’s High Street. It also owns Lisburn hotel, Haslem, and the Hillside restaurant in Hillsborough.
