Pre-tax profits decreased 27% to £5.1 million at Belfast-based hotel business Andras House during the year that ended on April 30, 2019.
Meanwhile, the company's turnover increased 10% to £26 million; its administrative expenses rose from £4.9 million to £6.3 million; and the number of people employed by the company increased from 248 to 347.
Talking to The Belfast Telegraph, the company's director, Rajesh Rana, said, "Turnover was up because we launched a lot of new rooms, but during the year the tourism sector generally was still bedding in the new room stock in the city.
"Generally, you'll have seen rates and occupancy soft, so that's one of the reasons profit would be down a little...that 33% increase in bedroom stock has spread business around."
2020
Rana added, "Things were weak for the first quarter of 2020, but that is common for all sectors of tourism in the first quarter, including the conferencing sector.
"Conferencing was hit to some extent by Brexit concerns, with people thinking last year they might need visas to travel. But we hope that with things having stabilised politically, we'll have an increase in business travel, which has been quite soft, perhaps because of uncertainty locally and nationally. Hopefully, growth of business confidence will lead to more people travelling for business reasons, and conferencing should pick up too."
© 2020 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
