Breaffy House Resort firm sees €10.5m dividend payout
Gordon Deegan
Shareholders at the company, which owns and operates the Breaffy House Resort in Co Mayo, last year shared dividends of €10.5 million, recently filed accounts show.
The dividend payout by Tirawley Ltd follows the company recording bumper profits in recent years on the back of State contracts to accommodate Ukrainians and International Protection (IP) applicants at the resort property.
Last year, pre-tax profits at Tirawley Ltd increased by 31 per cent to €8.46 million and the jump in profits at the Castlebar based firm followed revenues rising by 13 per cent from €19.04 million to €21.49 million.
The 13 per cent increase in revenues followed revenues surging by 40 per cent from €13.59 million to €19.04 million in 2023.
The €8.46 million in pre-tax profits for 2024 follow pre-tax profits of €6.42 million for 2023.
Quarterly Purchase Order figures by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality show that Tirawley Ltd received cumulative State payments of €14.68 million (including 23 per cent VAT) in 2024 from it providing emergency accommodation for international refugees for the State's International Protection Procurement Services (IPPS).
The State payments last year included €5.6 million alone for the final quarter of 2024.
The principal activity of the company is the operation of a hotel and leisure centre at Breaffy House Hotel and Breaffy Woods Hotel at Breaffy, Castlebar.
The company also provides emergency accommodation for International refugees to International Protection Procurement Services, an arm of the Department of Children.
The company last year paid dividends of €10.5 million.
In an annual return made up to September of this year, they show that Cyril Duffy with a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia address owned 75 per cent of the share capital of the company while Owen Kelly of Naas, Co Kildare owned the remaining 25 per cent.
The return shows that on October 30th, 2024, Deirdre Murphy and Niamh Murphy each transferred their 4.15 per cent share, a cumulative 8.30 per cent of the company’s share capital, to Cyril Duffy.
The accounts show that dividends of €9 million were paid between January 2nd, 2024, and October 7th, 2024, with the final dividend tranche of €1.5 million paid on December 19th last.
In a reference to the firm opting for the State contract work, the directors state that the company’s exposure to adverse market risk “is limited due to the diversity of its current business model and its income stream”.
The directors believe they "offer services that operate effectively in an uncertain market".
The company last year recorded post tax profits of €7.4 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €1.04 million.
The profits last year take account of non-cash depreciation charges of €328,684.
Numbers employed reduced from 160 to 155 as staff costs increased from €4.49 million to €4.94 million. The firm generated €12.2 million in revenues from ‘rooms’, while €7.3 million was generated from food.
The post-tax profits offset by the €10.5 million dividend payout resulted in the company’s accumulated profits reducing to €6.27 million.
The company’s cash funds decreased from €4.6 million to €1.96 million.
