La Rochelle and Man Utd boost revenues at Fota Island Hotel Resort in Cork

Gordon Deegan

The use by Manchester Utd and Ronan O’Gara’s French rugby team, La Rochelle, of the high-performance sports team training facility at the five-star Fota Island Hotel Resort in Cork contributed to revenues at the hotel group rising by 2 per cent to €37.16 million last year.

Xiu Lan Holdings Ltd operates the Fota Island Hotel Resort and the four-star Kingsley Hotel in Cork, and new accounts show that operating profits decreased by 15 per cent to €3.63 million in the 12 months to the end of March last.

Revenues increased from €36.44 million to €37.16 million.

The directors state that “in what has been a very good year, overall revenues increased by 2 per cent year on year, reflecting continued growth across the group”.

They state that “with increasing turnover, golf membership at Fota Island Golf Club is currently at its highest, which is central to the success of the resort, and there are strong international bookings in place for the forthcoming year”.

They state that Ireland’s leading high performance sports team training facility at Fota Island Resort “continues to host high-profile national and international teams, including teams from the GAA, Manchester United Academy U18 and U21s, La Rochelle and Stoke City U21s”.

The directors state that Fota Island Resort and The Kingsley “continue to invest in upgrading various facilities across both hotel properties, including bedrooms, golf course and high-performance team sports facilities, to enhance customer experience”.

The group recorded pre-tax profits of €246,790 after incurring a pre-tax loss of €875,630 in the prior year.

The pre-tax profit takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.3 million and €1.07 million in interest costs.

The group recorded a post tax loss of €1.04 million after a €1.29 million corporation tax charge is taken into account.

In 2025, the group generated €3.34 million in cash from operations.

The group’s tangible assets were valued at €60.58 million.

Yuzhu Kang, a Chinese businessman who was declared owner of the Fota Island Hotel resort following a lawsuit, which settled in February 2024, died in July 2024.

In the breakdown of the resort’s revenues, they show that room revenues decreased from €16.44 million to €15.87 million while food and beverage revenues increased from €12.2 million to €13.1 million.

‘Spa and leisure’ revenues rose from €3.95 million to €4.27 million while golf revenues increased from €3.95 million to €4.27 million. Other sales totalled €727,380.

Numbers employed declined from 619 to 611 as staff costs rose from €16.77 million to €17.26 million.

Shareholder funds totalled €28.2 million at the end of March last as cash funds reduced from €2 million to €1.9 million.