Jurys Inns, the budget hotels group jointly owned by investment group Quinlan Private and the Oman Investment Fund, has been hit by high-level financial leaks.


The Sunday Tribune has learned that a significant amount of financial information has been leaked to a number of newspapers in recent weeks from more than one source.


According to sources, the information includes high-level and detailed financial projections, the group's strategy and refinancing plans over the next few years and a comparison and assessment of the competition facing its hotel rivals.


The hotel chain, whose main lender is Anglo Irish, owns 29 hotels in Ireland and Britain and an inn in Prague. It was bought for €1.1bn from the Jurys Doyle Group at the height of the economic boom in 2007. Last year Anglo Irish was the lead bank in a group of lenders that helped refinance the hotel chain after Quinlan sold half of the company to the Oman Investment Fund. The refinancing of the indebted group extends out to 2014.


In a tough year for all types of hoteliers, the Irish Times reported last month that Jurys' earnings were expected to drop 30% in 2009. The company was expected to report earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €27m, down from €43.2m earned the previous year.


The Irish Hotels Federation published a report commissioned by economist Peter Bacon in November that claimed the whole hotels industry was being threatened by lenders "supporting unviable and insolvent enterprises".


The federation said thousands of hotel rooms in Ireland would need to close for the industry to address the oversupply of hotels in Ireland.