Higher costs hit profits at Fota Island resort, but revenues surge by 25% to €21.43m

Kenneth Fox

Pre-tax profits more than halved to €687,087 at the firm that operates the luxury Fota Island hotel resort outside Cork city last year as revenues surged.

New accounts show that profits declined due to higher costs as revenues increased at Xiu Lan Hotels Ltd by 25 per cent rising from €17.1 million for a prior 18-month period to €21.43 million in the 12 months to the end of March last.

The directors state that revenues during the year increased “as all restrictions were lifted” in a reference to the Covid-19 impact on the business

The accounts were signed on December 7th last and came ahead of the ownership of Fota Island resort being recently resolved earlier this month in out of-court talks at the High Court with Chinese businessman, Yuzhu Kang declared the owner.

Yuzhu Kang, who is from Hebei province and lives in Dublin, had claimed he had invested €30 million in Irish properties, including the five-star hotel and spa in Co Cork.

The High Court settlement now effectively means that Mr Kang is the owner of the Fota Island Resort and the Kingsley Hotel in Cork city as well as three other properties which had been in dispute.

Documents lodged with the Companies Office show that on the day of the High Court settlement, Haili Yang was appointed as director of  Xiu Lan Hotels Ltd while Xiu Xiang Kelly and Tuo Du retired as directors.

The accounts show that pre-tax profits decreased by 61 per cent last year as staff costs rose sharply rising from €5.05 million to €9.83 millon. Pay to directors decreased from €212,838 to 191,875.

On capital commitments, a note states that the company had a capital commitment of €300,000 in relation to the refurbishment of a restaurant.

The new accounts show that the resort firm recorded an operating profit of €912,085 in the 12 months to the end of March last before interest payments of €224,998 are taken into account.

The resort firm recorded post-tax profit of €404,376 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €282,711.

On the firm’s future developments, the directors state that “the company plans to pursue new business to strengthen the company’s trading position”.

The firm’s accumulated profits rose from €5.14 million to €5.69 million. The firm’s cash funds decreased sharply from €3.6 million to €529,910.

The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €1.07 million.

In the breakdown of the resort’s revenues, they show that room revenues increased from €4.2 million to €5.9 million while food and beverage revenues increased from €5.23 million to €7.57 million.

The resort’s spa revenues increased from €1.2 million to €1.6 million while its 'Lodges' revenues totalled €3.09 million. The resort’s golf revenues decreased from €2.99 million to €2.76 million.

At the end of March last, the company had shareholder funds of €13.87 million.