Arena still planning Doncaster hotel development
ARENA Leisure today said that it still plans to develop a 120-bedroom hotel at Doncaster Racecourse when market conditions improve.
The group, which owns seven UK racecourses including Windsor and Wolverhampton, has already gained planning permission for the hotel and 34 residential apartments on the upper floors and said it is a “commercially exciting opportunity” that will commence when market conditions improve.
The group sees the hotel as complementing the exhibition and conference facilities provided by the main grandstand.
It saw a 12% increase in attendances at its courses last year to 644,000 with Doncaster attracting 199,000 and contributing to full-year operating profits following its reopening after major development work in August 2007.
Arena said that racegoers at Doncaster have yet to return to its pre-closure levels and it is expecting demand for corporate hospitality at September’s St Leger meeting to be “subdued”.
Arena saw a 12% increase in revenue to £64.8m in the 12 months to December 31 and pre-tax profits drop to £4m from £5.8m.
Mark Elliott, chief executive, said: “Arena has delivered a creditable operational performance, growing total attendance across its portfolio of racecourses during the year and significantly outperforming the market in doing so.
“Whilst we have inevitably seen some impact from the wider current climate on our catering and hospitality revenues, there is no doubt that we are reaping significant benefits from the decision to bring the catering operation in-house.
“Arena has a portfolio of quality assets which are well invested and have further potential to be realised. Additionally, significant latent value resides in our landbank.
We will continue to make good progress on our development projects throughout 2009 and beyond,” he added.
It is not paying a final dividend following an interim dividend payment of 0.25p per share.
