The Parknasilla Resort & Spa in Kerry, owned by billionaire Jacqui Safra, slipped into the red last year due to the impact of interest payments and currency exchange rate changes.
Silork Ltd, the company behind the four-star hotel resort, recorded a €1.29 million loss in 2024, despite having made a strong €1.3 million profit in 2023.
The Parknasilla resort, which is situated close to the village of Sneem, comprises 86 bedrooms, 24 lodges, 38 three-bedroom villas, and a nine-hole golf course. The accounts say the hotel has “high annual demand” with up to 48 per cent repeat business.
The directors highlighted in the accounts that the resort’s continuing operating profit of €1.64 million in 2024, down 32 per cent from €2.4 million a year earlier. In a “satisfactory” year, the directors of the company put the change in operating profits down to increased operating expenses and “some once off costs”.
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“Despite the growth in costs we are very happy that demand for our offering remains strong and 2025 has seen a growth of 10 per cent in turnover,” Tony Daly, the managing director of the Parknasilla Resort, told The Irish Times. “The challenge of increasing costs remains high on the agenda for the hospitality industry.”
“We are very conscious of operating profit for the company and are constantly vigilant regarding cost control and revenue generation. However some costs are out of our direct control,” he said, pointing to an increase in costs caused by the change in VAT rate for hospitality.
Mr Daly said the Irish market remained “buoyant” in the year and noted “a return of UK visitors was welcome” with 2026 looking set to be “another excellent year” based on its advance bookings.
The €11.7 million in turnover last year was marginally in advance of the €11.53 million recorded in 2023 and the €11.56 million in 2022. But it marked a significant improvement from the pandemic-hit level of €6.8 million in 2021, a sign of the hospitality industry’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The resort opened a new €20 million loan facility with a UK-based investment company in May 2025, to refinance an existing €17.5 million loan from an unnamed US bank, dating from 2022.
The Topland Group is providing the loan facility, which is secured against the hotel and resort. The accounts state that the refinancing, to a euro denominated loan, has eliminated the foreign currency risk associated with the previous borrowings.
Movements in exchange rates contributed to the company’s loss in the year, as interest and loan repayment costs nearly tripled from €1.1 million in 2023 to €2.93 million.
Its employee headcount reached 126 in 2024, up from 121 in 2023, as staff costs increased 14 per cent from €3.9 million to €4.5 million.
Mr Safra, a member of the billionaire Swiss-Lebanese banking family, purchased the business in 2012 for around €11 million, alongside local businessman Tony Daly. A valuation carried out in late 2022 estimated its worth at €24 million.
The company invested €1.73 million into the fixed assets of the resort as part of an ongoing investment strategy, they said.
