Operating profits or earnings before interest and tax at the Beacon, one of the country’s largest private hospitals more than trebled to €7.2m in the twelve month period to June 2014, according to its latest accounts.

The hospital is effectively owned by business Denis O’ Brien after he bought the hospital’s former owners debts from Ulster Bank last year. The businessman is also the majority shareholder in Newstalk.

According to the accounts, the Beacon actually recorded a pre-tax loss of €6.4m during the period due to net interest payments of €9.5m. But Denis O’Brien has not sought payment of this interest and it is registered in the accounts as an accrual.

Revenues at the 210-bed hospital, which employs 600 staff and 200 doctors, rose by 10 percent to €82m.

The group's chief finance officer with Beacon, Daragh Kavanagh commented on the results:

"The growth trajectory is continuing and the performance is greatly improved. We would feel really, really positive about the hospital and last year's performance was very strong."

He continues: "The true metric of the business is the hospital’s EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and rent) and that was €7.2m, up from €2m from the previous year."

The firm's cash reserves increased from €2.8m to €4m during the year.