Profit fall fails to put off Peel Hotels
PEEL Hotels, which owns two hotels in the region, hasn’t let a fall in pre-tax profits stop it from adding to its property portfolio.
The group, which owns the Midland in Bradford and the Golden Lion in Leeds (now the Cosmopolitan), reported today that pre-tax profits for the year ended February 8, 2009 were £664,429 compared to £9.5m the year before.
The previous year’s profit was boosted by the sale of the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol and land in Bradford for £8.1m.
In the same statement it confirmed that contracts for 95-bedroomed Norfolk Royale Hotel in Bournemough had been exchanged.
The £8.2m acquisition will see Peel Hotels take ownership of an AA listed four star hotel.
Chief executive Robert Peel, who previously headed rival Thistle Hotels, admitted that the results were disappointing adding that it was impossible to predict when the economy would start to recover.
“In the current environment our strategy will continue to be one of further investment in our product, weighted to our freeholds, in order to gain market share and a higher average room rate,” he said.
“The acquisition of the Norfolk Royale will enable us to make use of our financial instruments and will save us a significant amount of capital gains tax.”
Like-for-like hotel revenues fell by 4.7% while like-for-like hotel profits after depreciation and before company administration costs decreased 34.4%.
REVPAR (accommodation revenue per available bedroom) fell 3.4% in the year with occupancy down by 8.4% and average room rate up by 5.8%.
The group said that refurbishment of the Midland Hotel in Bradford was still ongoing but it was using in-house resources rather than contractors.
External elevations of the former Golden Lion Hotel have been completed and all public areas including a new restaurant, bar and kitchen will reflect its restyling as a boutique hotel.
