Thomas Lyons 
Louis Fitzgerald Hospitality Group, which owns popular pubs, restaurants, and hotels such as Kehoe’s and the Stag’s Head in Dublin, has returned to pre-tax profit after revenues increased more than threefold from €16.05m to €55.75m in the 12 months to the end of June last year. The group’s holding company, Burtse Ltd, recorded pre-tax profits of €16.94m, following a Covid-19-related pre-tax loss of €306,598 for the prior year.
The directors of the group stated that it “is in a strong financial position” and announced that it has repaid all bank loans. As a result of this repayment, all bank loans at June 30 last year are presented as current liabilities. The group’s bank loans at the end of June last year totalled €14.4m, compared to €37.28m a year earlier. The accounts show that the business repaid loans of €22.8m during the year and this followed loan repayments of €6.22m in the prior year.
The group’s businesses include well-known Dublin City centre pubs, Stag’s Head, Kehoes, Bruxelles, The Gin Palace, Grand Central and Quays Temple Bar. The group also operates An Poitin Stil, The Laurels, Palmerstown House, The Roost, Annie May’s, Carroll’s, The Arlington Hotel and The Louis Fitzgerald Hotel. As the business recovered from Covid-19, numbers employed by the business increased by 164 from 677 to 841 as staff costs increased almost threefold from €5.8m to €16.58m.
The directors said that “management aims to increase the profitability of the company through increasing turnover and management of its operating costs”. Pay to directors, Louis Fitzgerald and his wife, Helen, declined sharply from €318,292 to €140,264 last year. The two lead the family-owned Louis Fitzgerald group where the Fitzgerald adult children now take a prominent role in the running of the business.
Burtse recorded the pre-tax profit after taking account of non-cash depreciation costs of €3.2m. Burtse enjoyed operating profits of €17.5m and paid out €591,290 in interest payments. The hospitality group recorded a post-tax profit of €14.54m after paying out corporation tax of €2.399m. The business had shareholder funds of €72.199m, including accumulated profits of €27.85m. The shareholder funds were also boosted by the group’s revaluation reserve increasing from €11.25m to €25.8m. Burtse’s cash funds increased sharply from €1.34m to €22.66m.
This month, it was reported in the Irish Examiner that the company is to acquire Cork’s Imperial Hotel. The group also benefited from €7.94m in “other operating income” that included €5.87m in Government grants. The pre-Covid year revenues of €71.39m in fiscal 2019 are still a long way off, as the business continued to be impacted by Covid-19 restrictions for the first half of the year under review. However, the directors of the group are optimistic about the future and believe that the business will continue to grow and prosper.
