A four-star Dublin hotel owned by one of the best known family names in the Irish hotel industry will report an operating profit for 2021.
The 18th century Fitzpatrick's Killiney Castle hotel in Dublin is controlled by Eithne Scott-Lennon and Ms Scott-Lennon’s brother and well-known hotelier, John Fitzpatrick, who runs two Fitzpatrick hotels in New York City.
Now, new accounts just filed for the hotel firm that operates the 113 bedroom Fitzpatrick Killiney Castle hotel show that the impact of Covid-19 resulted in revenues almost halving from €7.52 million to €3.93 million in the 12 months to the end of October 2020.
The sharp drop in revenues contributed to Emdora Ltd recording a pre-tax loss of €581,048 for the Covid-hit year.
This follows a pre-tax profit of €135,917 in 2019.
The directors state that the group has adapted to the Covid-19 circumstances by developing a Front Lawn/ Terrace Bar on the hotel grounds.
They state: “This is a new and additional income stream comprising food and beverage. The measures taken by management have resulted in the impact of the restrictions being minimised, and the group will report an operating profit for financial year 2021.”
In 2020, the group's operating loss was €351,272 and interest costs of €229,776 resulted in the pre-tax loss of €581,048.
On the 2020 performance, the directors state that they were pleased that despite a number of months of enforced closure, the hotel managed to retain 52 per cent of 2019 room revenue.
The directors state that there will be further decreases in room revenue for 2021 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The directors said that there were significant capital expenditure projects undertaken in the previous years and “there is a temporary deferral on major capital projects until a clearer view on the economic recovery from Covid-19 emerges”.
In response to Covid, the directors state that management have taken appropriate measures to reduce costs, have availed of Government supports where available, agreed a bank interest only payment arrangement and revenue debt warehousing.
Numbers employed at the business during 2020 declined from 138 to 100 as staff costs, including directors’ pay, reduced from €3.34 million to €2.08 million. Directors' pay declined from €325,898 to €292,901.
The company received Government grants of €269,664 in 2020. The loss in 2020 takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €584,882.
At the end of October 2020, the group was sitting on shareholder funds of €4.66 million. The company’s cash funds totalled €497,570.
