Hastings Hotels sales soar to £43.2m in record year
Hastings Hotels group recorded a pre-tax profit of £6.2 million last year.
The family-owned business behind Belfast’s Europa, Grand Central and Culloden hotels saw sales bounce back more than 50% to £43.2m for the year ending October 31 2022.
The group’s finance director, Peter Gibson, said it was a record year for Hastings’ profits.
“This comes despite the significant headwinds that all businesses have faced during the year, including rising energy costs, inflation and the Omicron variant of Covid at the start of 2022,” he said.
The latest annual results follow a challenging 2021, when the pandemic’s impact on the hotel trade left the group with bottom line losses of £794,138, despite receiving £6.3m of government support.
The company divided its six hotels, including Ballygally Castle, the Stormont Hotel and the Everglades in Derry, into six separate trading entities. It also in Dublin’s five-star Merion Hotel.
The Europa Hotel, which recently hosted former US President Bill Clinton, was the biggest revenue driver last year, with a turnover of £12.6m for the year to October 2022, ahead of the Grand Central Hotel (£12.1m) and Culloden (£8.5m).
The Grand Central produced the greatest operating profit for the year (£857,109). But when interest payments and tax were factored in, only the Ballygally Castle Hotel generated a bottom line profit in the reporting period.
Two other group companies, which provide services to the six hotels, recorded profitable years.
Income from other means, including a revaluation of property assets, plus a £1.8m dividend from Hastings’ 50% share in the Merrion Hotel, were also considerable factors in making 2022 a record profitable year for the group.
The Merrion Hotel joint venture had registered a loss of just under £300,000 in 2021.
Even with the disposal of the Slieve Donard Hotel, the grouped accounts for Hastings Hotels show a significantly reduced workforce from 2020.
The group averaged 802 staff in 2022, a reduction of around 360 people in two years.
Last year alone saw Hastings’ part-time workforce fall by 138 people.
