€37m drop in revenues at The Louis Fitzgerald group

THE Louis Fitzgerald pub and hotel group last year sustained a €37m hit to revenues due to impact of covid on the hospitality industry.

Accounts lodged by the hotel group’s holding company, Burtse Ltd, show that the business recorded a pre-tax loss of €306,598 in the 12 months to the end of June last.

Over the 12 months, revenues reduced by 70 per cent from €53 million to €16m.

The revenue drop is even more acute at 77.5 per cent from pre-covid year revenues of €71.39m in fiscal 2019.

Government restrictions resulted in the closure of the group’s pubs for much of the year under review and the group received Government covid grants of €5.72m.

The directors note that the current situation is dynamic “and there are continuous uncertainties surrounding the duration of the pandemic, future disruptions to the hospitality industry and the industry’s speed of recovery”.

Louis Fitzgerald

They state however that the group “is in a strong financial position to withstand potential future challenges in this context”.

Pay to directors Louis Fitzgerald and his wife Helen declined from €408,345 to €318,292 last year.

The family run business includes city centre pubs, the 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, The Old Mill, Tallaght and The Louis Fitzgerald Hotel. Numbers employed by the business decreased by 148 from 825 to 677 last year as staff costs, including directors’ pay – more than halved from €14.7 million to €5.8 million.

Burtse recorded the pre-tax loss after taking account of non-cash depreciation costs of €3.5m.

Burtse enjoyed operating profits of €825,307 and paid out €1.13 million in interest payments to give the pre-tax loss of €306,598.