Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney confident of reporting operating profit for 2021

The Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney, Co Dublin, is confident of reporting an operating profit for 2021, its latest accounts said.

The 113-bedroom hotel is controlled by Eithne Scott-Lennon, whose brother John Fitzpatrick runs two hotels in New York.

The accounts show that the impact of Covid-19 resulted in revenues almost halving at operating company Emdora Ltd, from €7.52 million to €3.93 million in the 12 months to the end of October 2020.

However, a directors’ note with the accounts said the company would report an operating profit for 2021.

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The sharp drop in revenues at the hotel contributed to Emdora Ltd recording a pretax loss of €581,048 for the Covid-hit year. This followed a pretax profit of €135,917 in 2019.

Adapted

The note said that the group has adapted to the Covid-19 circumstances by developing a front lawn and terrace bar on the hotel grounds.

“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, ” the note said.

In 2020, the group’s operating loss was €351,272 and interest costs of €229,776 resulted in the pretax loss of €581,048.

On the 2020 performance, the directors said that they were pleased that, despite a number of months of enforced closure, the hotel managed to retain 52 per cent of 2019’s room revenue. They went on the say that the company would defer major capital projects until a clearer picture emerged.

The accounts said management had taken appropriate measures to reduce costs, have availed of Government supports where available and agreed a bank interest-only payment arrangement and revenue debt warehousing.

Staff costs

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.