THE WELL-known Dublin restaurant and pub, Market Bar, controlled by entrepreneurs Jay Bourke and John Reynolds that features on RTÉ’s Fade Street series returned to profit in 2010, new figures show.
According to accounts lodged with the Companies Office, parent group Mercroft Taverns recorded a pre-tax profit of €295,087 for the year, turning around a loss of €409,002 in 2009.
According to the return, the main factors behind the recovery were a €245,029 credit arising from the reduction in impairment of a financial asset and a reduction in rent paid to Bellinter House Hotel from €850,000 to €212,500.
The abridged accounts – which do not provide a turnover figure – show that the company’s operating profits increased by 86 per cent from €168,536 to €314,715, in part because of a fall in administrative expenses to €1.3 million from €1.75 million. The company is owned by businessmen John Reynolds, Jay Bourke and Eoin Foyle.
According to the directors’ report “the directors introduced cost saving measures during the year to counteract the decline in consumer spending patterns in the current economic environment”.
The returns show that Mr Bourke and Mr Reynolds along with fellow director, Eoin Foyle took no remuneration from the company in 2010. The firm had bank loans and overdrafts totalling €1.45 million at the end of 2010. Interest payments on bank loans and overdrafts more than halved from €110,845 to €51,848.
