Porterhouse revenues soared prior to Conor McGregor sale

The Porterhouse Group has recorded a rise of over €34 million in revenues ahead of selling its brewery to UFC champion Conor McGregor.

The revenues at the Porterhouse Group, based in Dublin, have shown that they rose from €25.55 million to €34.45million in its full figures for last year.

According to the Irish Independent, the accounts filed showed that, despite the revenue increase, the group still recorded a pre-tax loss of €1.48m in the 12 months to the end of 28 February last, due to non-cash losses after a pre-tax profit of €1.86m during the previous year.

Speaking about the business, Porterhouse Group director Elliot Hughes told reporters that he had seen a “strong rebound in sales activity, with this being the first full year since 2019/20 whereby Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted in full”.

Hughes explained that the main factors behind the pre-tax loss “were due to exceptional items as a result of a group restructure as well as a non-cash accounting loss on the disposal of property, being the difference between the carrying value and the proceeds of sales – this amounted to €2.1m”.

However, he also added that on the brewery side, the group had not been “actively looking to sell, however, difficult times brought on by Covid-19 and inflation” which resulted in the brewery being sold”.

Hughes additionally hinted that “current year trading remains resilient with trading activity on par with prior year” but that the group “will return to pre-tax profit”.

The accounts cover the Porterhouse Bars in Dublin and London, restaurants in Dublin and London and the group’s brewery and distribution business and the group’s businesses include: Tapped, The Port House Restaurants and Grand Cru.

Revenues were made up of €26.96m in “drink sales” and €7.49m in “food sales” with the group generating €27.4m of revenues in Ireland and €7.04m across Europe. As such, the group’s accumulated profits reportedly totalled €19.12m.

Last year, McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout landed a major on-trade deal with LWC to expand its reach to more than 500 pubs, a move that follows the brand also being stocked in around 400 Asda supermarkets.

Entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, have shown their support for McGregor, with Musk even backing his suggestion to run for Irish president.