Pre-tax profits at the main firm behind the Louis Fitzgerald hospitality group last year increased by 37% to €28.39m.
The pub, restaurant and hotel group owns the likes of Kehoe's and the Stag's Head in Dublin and new accounts filed by the group's holding company, Cregagh Investment Company UC show that the business's profits rose as revenues declined by 1% from €107.02 million to €105.94 million in the 12 months to the end of June last.
One of Cregagh’s subsidiaries is The Imperial Hotel (Cork) Ltd after the Fitzgeralds purchased the four star historic hotel for a reported €25 million in 2023 from the Flynn Group.
The directors for Cregagh state that the group today "is in a strong financial position" and "management aims to increase the profitability of the company through increasing turnover and management of its operating costs".
The pre-tax profits of €28.39 million last year follow pre-tax profits of €20.62 million in the prior year.
The scale of the Fitzgerald operation in 2025 comes 57 years after a 23 year old Louis Fitzgerald moved from Tipperary to Dublin to purchase his first pub on Dublin’s Townsend Street which had then weekly revenues of £80 quickly rising to £560 per week.
The Cregagh directors state that as the group operates in the hospitality sector, sales are exposed to changes in general economic conditions in Ireland and consequently a possible decrease in turnover however the Group operates establishments in a wide variety of locations thus mitigating the risk.
The business today is very much a family affair with seven members of the Fitzgerald family on the board - Louis, Helen, Edward, Louise, Barry, Louis Jnr and Niamh.
Profits were boosted last year by a non-cash gain of €3.16m concerning a revaluation on investment properties.
The group’sbusinesses 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.
Numbers employed by the business decreased by 11 from 1,249 to 1,238 as staff costsdipped from €33.59m to €33.25m.
Directors last year shared €836,531 in pay.
The group last year paid out €3.08m on the purchase of tangible fix assets.
Cregagh recorded the pre-tax profit of €28.39m after taking into account combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €2.7 million.
The hospitality group recorded a post tax profit of €24.23m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €4.16m.
The firm’s balance sheet received a major boost as the value of the revaluation reserve increased from €79.68m to €89.55m.
This contributed to shareholder funds increasing from €231.18m to €262.03m. Accumulated profits increased from €148.4m to €169.38m.
Cregagh’s cash funds increased from €35.97 million to €53.06 million.
Story by Gordon Deegan
