THE owner of the Bunratty Castle Hotel in the Clare tourist village has received net insurance proceeds of €1.75m from a fire that damaged the hotel last year.

That is according to new group accounts for the owners of the hotel, Blarney Woollen Mills Group which show that arising from the insurance claim from the June 2021 fire, the group received insurance proceeds of €1.98m that off-set associated costs of €230,581.

The group also operates the Meadows and Byrne outlet in Bunratty.

The insurance payout last year contributed to profits at the group increasing more than four fold to €8.38m.

New accounts show that Blarney Woollen Mills Group Ltd and subsidiaries recorded the 447pc increase in pre-tax profits after revenues surged by 44pc or €11m from €24.75m to €35.75m in the 12 months to the end of January 31 this year.

The Blarney headquartered group also benefited from €4.59m in Government wage subsidy support scheme pay and this followed €2.14m received under that heading in 2020.

Along with operating Blarney Woollen Mills and Meadows and Byrne shops around the country, the group also operates two hotels, one at Blarney in Cork along with the hotel in Bunratty.

The directors state that group revenue and profit increased, driven by the group’s key retail and hospitality markets reopening following Covid-19 shutdowns and the continued successful execution of the company’s growth strategy. 

They state that “demand for the company’s products remains strong however the sourcing and pricing of key inputs remains challenging”. 

The group recorded operating profits of €8.75m and interest costs of €367,489 reduced profits to €8.38m. The profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €303,868. The group recorded post tax profits of €7.46 million after paying corporation tax of €922,187.

The accounts – signed off by directors, Freda Hayes and Fergus Gately on November 23 – show that retail sales rose by 36 per cent from €19.5m to €26.56m while hotel and restaurant sales more than doubled from €3.1m to €6.4m.

The group’s revenues from manufacturing knitwear increased by 43pc from €1.83m to €2.62m while concession income reduced from €266,777 to €169,847.

Numbers employed by the group increased by 147 from 262 to 409 and staff costs decreased from €5.83m to €5.3m.

Directors’ pay increased from €665,541 to €697,103. Key management personnel shared pay of €999,315.

Shareholder funds at the end of January totalled €25.37m. Cash funds doubled from €9.27m to €18.55m.