Hotel group’s profits soar 44% to €8m

Operating profits at the group which owns the luxury Faithlegg House Hotel in Co Waterford grew by 44% to €8m last year.

Newly-filed accounts for FBD Hotels and Resorts show that the group’s revenues increased by 38% to €73.4m.

FBD Hotels and Resorts is solely owned by investment holding company Farmer Business Developments following its 2015 acquisition of FBD Holdings’ 50% share.

As well as Faithlegg, the group owns The Heritage Hotel and Spa in Laois; the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin and Spanish properties Sunset Beach Club and La Cala Resort.

It also has an extensive landbank in La Cala in Spain, which it is developing partly via joint ventures with construction company Taylor Wimpey.

Spain is the largest part of FBD Hotels and Resorts’ business, contributing nearly €40m to last year’s revenues.

Regarding its Irish hotels, the group said Faithlegg made a profit of €1.3m; Castleknock’s performance was “excellent and ahead of expectations”; and the recently-purchased Heritage “represents a good opportunity for strong returns in the medium term”.

The group’s non-hotel related property division accounted for more than 25% of revenue.