Property company records profit for last year
A company belonging to one of the biggest property developers in the West recorded a profit of almost €2 million for 2014, according to newly-filed accounts.
According to the directors of Granelt Properties Ltd – which is owned by Bernard Duffy and is a subsidiary of TBD Group Holdings – NAMA has agreed to a business plan for asset disposal.
In the accounts for the year ended December 2014, the company reported a profit just shy of €2m (there was a loss of €1.1m recorded the previous year), and net liabilities were reduced from €32.5m to €29.7m.
However, the company’s auditors noted it incurred an operating loss (before exceptional gains) for 2014 of €662,000.
Included in the company’s liabilities are €10.7m as part of a joint venture in the name of ‘DH Partnership’ – this includes almost €7.1m in a bank loan, more than €3.5m in interest, and €106,000 owed to the fellow joint venture party.
That party is developer Hugh Heskin, and the loans are understood to relate to 21 acres at Parkmore on the Tuam Road in Galway, where the partnership secured planning permission for 90 homes.
The directors have made an impairment provision of €10.3m on the value of the Tuam Road site – which would leave it with a value of €270,000. This is based on directors’ valuations.
“The outlook for the property market has declined since the company’s core assets were acquired and the value of those assets has declined.
“The outlook for the property market in general has significantly increased the uncertainty in relation to the carrying value of its joint venture asset and work in progress.
“The company’s principal banking facilities and those of its subsidiaries have been transferred to NAMA. The company has submitted a business plan to NAMA which sets out the directors’ proposals for the orderly process of completion and asset disposal, over a certain period.
“This business plan has been reviewed and accepted by NAMA. The successful implementation of this business plan is dependent on the ongoing support of NAMA. These conditions indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt upon the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the directors’ report reads.
The company is owed €3.5m by its parent company TBD Group Holdings, and has made a provision for the non-recoverability of that.
Meanwhile, accounts for the parent company show a loss for the year-ended 2014 show a loss of just under €434,000, and net liabilities of €7.3m.
Mr Duffy is best known for building the likes of the Harbour Hotel and House Hotel in the city centre, and for taking over the Baily Point complex in Salthill.
The company has also constructed – itself and for clients – significant office, residential, carpark and retail developments across Dublin in investments which had been valued at more than €150m. Other major projects include redevelopment work at NUIG, the Bons Secours Hospital, Sligo IT, the construction of the Abbott Pharmaceutical Plant in Sligo, and extension to Medtronic.