DOYLE HOTELS recorded a loss of €99.9 million in 2008, its first full year of trading following the sale of the budget Jurys Inn chain two years ago, and other assets.

Accounts just filed for Doyle Hotels (Holdings) Ltd, which operates 11 four- and five-star properties in Ireland, Britain and the United States, show the group achieved turnover of €98.1 million in the 12 months to the end of last December.

When costs of sales of €70.88 million were deducted, the hotel chain had a gross profit of €27.2 million.

Doyle Hotels was pushed into the red by a number of exceptional items relating to its restructuring, a major refurbishment of the chain’s properties, a hit on the value of its assets, and heavy losses relating to currency exchange and its pension schemes.

The hotel group booked an exceptional administrative expense of just more than €12 million last year. This related to “redundancy, re-organisation, rebranding, purchase of tenant leases and other hotel closure costs”.

Doyle Hotels closed the Kensington property in London and the Dupont in Washington last year for refurbishment. Both re-opened earlier this year.

The Irish-owned hotel group also recorded a depreciation charge of €16 million relating to the write-off of “fixtures, fittings and furniture” not required following the refurbishment of nine of its hotels.

The accounts also show a €10 million impairment charge on the value of its properties. This left Doyle Hotels with a trading loss for the year of €36.3 million.

In addition to this, Doyle Hotels took a €53.9 million currency hit relating to the value of its properties in the US and Britain.

Doyle Hotels also booked an actuarial loss of just under €19 million for its group pension schemes. This left the company with total losses for the year of just under €100 million.

Despite the heavy losses, Doyle Hotels ended 2008 with shareholders’ funds of €302.2 million.

When the exceptional costs are stripped out, Doyle Hotels made an operating profit of €10.65 million and an after-tax profit of €7.1 million. This included a tax credit of €6.9 million.

Doyle Hotels owed €327.6 million at the end of last year, a sum that is “due for settlement during November 2013”. The company spent €13.47 million servicing its debt in 2008.

The hotel chain employed an average 1,185 staff last year. Total payroll costs were €36.9 million.

No like-for-like figures are provided in the financial statements.

When contacted by T he Irish Times, Doyle Hotels declined to comment on the results or provide an insight into current trading.

Jurys Doyle was taken off the stock market in 1995 by JDH Acquisitions, a vehicle controlled by the daughters of the late PV Doyle – Bernadette Gallagher, Eileen Monahan and Ann Roche – and the family of former chairman Walter Beatty. The budget Jurys Inn chain was sold in 2007 for €1.165 billion to Quinlan Private.

The hotel group was rebranded under the Doyle name last year.