Noonan Developments Sells Its Griffin Hotel Shares

Noonan Developments, the Dublin-based building group, has sold its 34.9% share in Liam Griffin’s (right) Griffin Group Hotels for €100,000.  The sale was formally completed in December, and has now been confirmed in the most recent accounts published by Noonan Group Holdings Ltd.    The value of the shares was written down hugely in 2011 and 2012: in this period their value went from €3.8 million to its present value of€100,000.    Griffin Group Hotels dramatically reduced their pre-tax losses in 2012 to €572,897 because of an increase in revenue to €16.58 million; the previous year it recorded an €11 million pre-tax loss largely owing to an €8.7m writedown. The group owed €12.3 million to banks at the end of 2012.   At the apex of the Celtic Tiger in 2006, the Noonan Group recorded revenues of €31 million, with its seven directors sharing remuneration of €4.29m.   The collapse in the building industry, however, resulted in the group recording just two house-sales in Ireland in 2013, creating revenues of €325,991. This followed the group recording seven house sales in 2012 with revenues of €1.17 million.   The 2013 accounts for the Noonan Group do not reveal who purchased its Griffin share.   The sale will help reduce their bank debt: the directors’ report states these have been reduced by 27%, from €41.9 million in September 2010 to €30.83 million in September 2013.   The group’s loans were transferred to Nama in October 2010 and, according to the directors’ report, the group "has achieved an agreed property strategy approved by Nama."