Macdonald Hotels said there were “clear signs” its sites around the M25 were beginning to recover from a challenging year today.
The regional operator has seen trading pick up in recent months with revenues per available room edging closer to levels seen 12 months ago.
Macdonald runs 12 hotels in the M25 area and these have suffered from the fall in conference and leisure business following the 11 September attacks.
But the group said revenue per available room (revpar) across the 12 were down just 5% in the six months to October after a 17% drop in the prior half-year.
Chairman Frank O’Callaghan added: “Our M25 hotels are now demonstrating clear signs of recovery following a very difficult nine months trading.”
Macdonald has expanded its portfolio to 110 after buying 48 Heritage Hotels from Compass in a joint venture with Bank of Scotland in April last year.
Revpar was up 5% across its provincial sites, which stretch from Peterhead in Scotland to Plymouth, over the 12 months to 3 October.
That helped pretax profits in the year climb 17% to £16.1m on turnover of £139.7m, up from £108.1m the year before.
O’Callaghan said the group had also benefited from selling four of the joint venture hotels for one-off profits of £1.6m.
But he added: “These are very positive results in what has widely been acknowledged as one of the most challenging periods that the UK hospitality industry has experienced.”
Revpar across the group edged up 1% to £91.11 in the period with room yields also improving 1%, to £48.05.
Macdonald, based in Bathgate, West Lothian, said its hotels in Aberdeen and central Scotland had enjoyed strong growth during the year.
It added that sites in the Lake District had recovered well from the impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis on the business.
The group has now integrated the core of the Heritage estate, rebranding the majority under the Macdonald banner.
The Macdonald brand is only being used on four or five star sites with three-star hotels being given an economy brand, CountryTown Hotels.
Shares in the group were up 3.5p at 220p in morning trading. Shareholders will receive a total dividend of 7.50p, up from 6.67p last year.
EGi News 03/12/02
