Profits up, but acquisitions are costly for Justin Hemmes’ Merivale
Justin Hemmes has reported enormous profits despite the pandemic.
Just-lodged accounts show Hemmes Trading made a profit of $17.3 million for the year, drastically increasing from a $280,598 in FY20.
Hemmes Trading controls the group’s property investments and venue operations, but not staff expenses.
Despite the profit, the group’s liabilities over current assets equates to approximately $59 million, $50.8 million of which was payable to director-related entities.
So, while the profits are good, the cost for the publican’s Merivale operations have been high.
“Notwithstanding this position, the financial statements have continued to be prepared on a going concern basis as a result of the company receiving a letter of support from other director-related entities,” the group’s directors, which include Hemmes’ motherMerivale and sisterBettina wrote.
“These director-related entities have confirmed that they will not call the related party balances and they will provide additional financial support to allow the company to pay their debts as and when fall due for at least 12 months from the date that the accounts are signed.”
In recent months Hemmes Merivale has acquired the Lorne Hotel and Tomasetti House for a combined $80 million, expanding his empire further into Victoria. He has also announced several more purchases including Byron’s Cheeky Monkeys for $13 million.
Hemmes has reported revenue of approximately $270 million, down from the previous year.
Cash and cash equivalent for the year slipped to just $5.7 million from $15 million at the end of FY20.
This isn’t the entire picture of Hemmes performance this year as it doesn’t account for parent company the John Hemmes Family Trust, or the trust from which hospitality employees are paid.
A spokesman for the group told Margin Call: “The trading and results of this entity on a stand-
alone basis is not reflective of the overall group performance, which is not publicly available
information, due to certain entities in the group not being subject to reporting obligations”.
Irit Jackson, 9th December 2021
