Staycity, an Irish aparthotel group, is forecasting a 19% jump in earnings to €8m this year as it opens new developments in the UK and continental Europe.
Tom Walsh, the co-founder and chief executive of the company, said it expected to have turnover of €62.5m this year, a 30% hike from €48m in 2016. Last year, Staycity recorded €6.75m in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.
The group will have just over 2,000 apartments in operation at the end of this year, up from 1,350 at the end of 2016, according to Walsh. Staycity has 2,500 more apartments in its short-term development pipeline and is on track with a plan to have 15,000 by 2022, he added.
The company’s schemes include a 159-bedroom Dublin aparthotel that is being developed by the property investor Tetrarch Capital. Staycity does not own properties outright but partners with developers to take long leases on buildings.
Trading this year has been in line with forecasts, though the Brexit-influenced pressure on sterling had cost Staycity money, Walsh said.
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“The weakness of sterling causes currency translation losses on our UK business and makes Dublin more expensive for our sizeable UK clientele,” he said. “We have currency hedging in place so the impact on the bottom line is minimised.”
Walsh and his brother Ger set up Staycity in 2004 and received early investment from Irelandia, an investment vehicle of the Ryan family of Ryanair, which took a 40% stake. Irelandia cashed out with an €11m profit in 2015 when Staycity raised €20m in debt funding from Proventus Capital Partners, a Swedish finance house.
The Walsh brothers are the largest shareholders in Staycity. Paul Dowling, a former chief executive of wind energy company Airtricity, owns about 20%. Walsh has previously said that Staycity could take a stock market listing.
The group has launched a separate brand, Wilde, for its premium developments, starting with a 106-unit aparthotel in London that will open in the autumn.