Farmer Business Developments plc, the investment holding company with 4,400 mostly farmer shareholders reported strong results for 2024 which showed profit before tax increased to €36.36m, from €25.04m in 2023.

The company’s hotels and resorts business recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €27.23m, a 13% improvement on the 2023 performance.

Revenue in the hotels and resorts business was €67.3m in Ireland and €51.4m in Spain. The results for the hotels and resorts division do not include the purchase of the Grand Hotel in Malahide for €55m which was completed at the end of February 2025. The company said that purchase is expected to add 15% to sector earnings in its first 12 months. Farmer Business Developments received dividend income of €17.4m during the year. The company holds 8.5m ordinary shares in insurance company FBD plc.

The insurer paid an ordinary dividend of €1 per share and a special dividend of €1 per share in 2024. Farmer Business Developments has held its stake in FBD plc unchanged for almost 20 years.

The company announced an ordinary dividend of 16c per share for 2024, an increase of 2c on the previous year. Farmer Business Developments had announced and paid a special dividend of 17c per share in December of 2024, a distribution of the special FBD dividend it had received.

As well as the holding in the hotels and resorts business and the insurance company, Farmer Business Developments also has property interests near Berlin airport.

In 2023 the value of that investment was written down by €5.95m. There was no further impairment in 2024. Patrick Murphy, chair of Farmer Business Developments, said: “We are biding our time with our Berlin investment to ensure we maximise its value at exit.”

The consolidated balance sheet of the Farmer Business Developments plc showed net assets of €334.5m at the end of 2024, up from €307.9m 12 months earlier.

The company will hold its annual general meeting at noon on Thursday 12 June in the Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12.