Fota Island Resort in talks to host visiting NFL Teams as revenues rise to €36.44m
Gordon Deegan
Negotiations are underway to host this September NFL teams from the United States at the five star Fota Island Resort’s high performance sports training facility outside Cork city.
That is according to new consolidated accounts for Xiu Lan Holdings Ltd which show that the hotel group’s pre-tax losses rose by 81.5 per cent to €875,630 in the 12 months to the end of March last mainly due to non-cash charges of €4.1 million.
The group operates the Fota Island Resort and the four star Kingsley Hotel at Victoria Cross in Cork and group revenues last year increased by 6 per cent from €34.45 million to €36.44 million.
According to the directors, the group enjoyed “a very good year” with the revenue increase and operating profits increasing by 41 per cent to €4.28 million.
The directors state that “Ireland’s leading high performance sports team training facility at Fota Island Resort continues to host high profile national and international teams such as South Africa, La Rochelle and Crusaders Rugby from New Zealand”.
They state that “negotiations are underway to host NFL teams visiting in September".
The directors don't name any of the teams it is negotiating with - it has previously been announced by the NFL that the Pittsburgh Steelers will play at Croke Park as the designated team for the historic first NFL game in Ireland.
The directors state that “membership at the Fota Island Golf Club and the Kingsley Health Club is currently at its highest, central to the success of the companies, there are strong domestic and international bookings in place for the coming year in both properties".
The directors state that the total investment at the Fota Island resort and The Kingsley has been over €25 million from October 2013 to December 2024.
In accounts signed off on April 14th, 2025, the directors state that “future developments will include additional renovation of bedrooms in both properties later this year and a partnership with a French winery to enhance the sustainable sourcing of wine for the beverage programme across both properties”.
The directors refer to the ownership of the group being resolved in February 2024 in out of court talks at the High Court with Chinese businessman, Yuzhu Kang declared the 100 per cent owner of Xiu Lan Holdings Ltd as part of a High Court order.
The accounts show that the group recorded the pre-tax loss of €875,630 after taking into account non-cash depreciation charge of €2.49 million and specific fixed asset impairment charge of €1.6 million along with interest payments of €1.06 million.
The resort firm recorded post tax loss of €1.2 million after incurring a corporation tax charge of €332,559.
In the breakdown of the resort’s revenues, they show that room revenues increased from €15.36 million to €16.44 million while food and beverage revenues increased from €11.84 million to €12.21 million.
‘Spa and leisure’ revenues rose from €3.56 million to €3.95 million while golf revenues increased from €2.76 million to €2.85 million. Other sales totalled €977,383.
Numbers employed declined from 663 to 619 as staff costs rose from €15.73 million to €16.77 million.
At the end of March 2024, the group owed its owner, Yuzhu Kang €19.72 million. Mr Kang resigned as a director on July 24th last.
