Main pic: Pat Doherty (r) and then Mayor of Donegal Town, Pauric Kennedy, at Lough Eske Hotel in 2022.
Pat ‘Big Hill’ Doherty’s Harcourt Development Group recorded pre-tax profits of €7.58m in 2022.
According to the Irish Independent, new consolidated accounts filed by Marzocco UC, the group’s parent, show the return to pre-tax profit followed revenues at the group rising by €35m, or 37pc, from €94.23m to €129.3m.
The Buncrana native’s group operating profits increased by 50pc to €39.14m and profits reduced to €7.5m, mainly due to interest payments of €29.45m.
Before Christmas, Doherty announced that he was to sell a portrait of himself (below) by the late artist, Lucian Freud, for an estimated €17m. The developer acknowledged his portrait entitled ‘Donegal Man’ is not pretty.
It is one of three of Freud’s works owned by the businessman who sat for some 600 hours to allow the artist to complete his work. However, he went on to do 100 sittings for the portrait to be auctioned, and 85 and 35 sittings for the other two works.
Pat ‘Bill Hill, Doherty in front of a portrait of him painted by the late Lucian Freud which he plans to sell for an estimated €17m.
The Marzocco group is headquartered in Dublin and has interests here, in the UK, Europe, the US and the Caribbean.
The group operates five hotels, including the five-star Lough Eske Castle Hotel, near Donegal town, and the Carlisle Bay in Antigua. All performed strongly in 2022 “in terms of revenue and profitability and this trend has continued into 2023”.
In accounts signed off on December 22 last, a note states that at the time of the approval of the financial statements, “all of the group’s operating businesses were trading strongly”.
The note stated that during 2023, the group “has continued to trade positively whilst managing the inflationary pressures in relation to energy costs, interest rates and construction materials”.
The accounts disclose that the group last July sold its six shopping centres here after being put on the market in 2022.
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