Queens Moat Houses is raising £35m, the precise amount of its latest annual property revaluation, through a long-dated debenture, due 2020 at 10.25%, a rate 1.25% above comparable gilt.
The cash will replace existing short-term variable rate borrowings.
The capital-raising follows the recent acquisitions of the Holiday Inn at Liverpool and the Royal Hotel in Nottingham for £21.2m.
Queens Moat Houses’ annual property revaluation has disclosed a figure of £177m, a surplus of £35m over the end-1984 figure. The current ratio of borrowing to shareholders’ funds, after recent acquisitions, is put at 45%.
Backing the debenture is a 60% profits increase from £6.6m to £10.5m before tax for 1985. The dividend is lifted 20% — more than forecast — with a final of 0.835p a share taking the total to 1.6p.
Earnings per share increased from 4.03p to 4.75p.
Mr John Bairstow, chairman and joint managing director, says that already this year the group has acquired seven further hotels. Since January 1985, the group has added 13 hotels with 1,525 bedrooms. The group also has expansion and improvement programmes under way at its existing hotels.
He forecasts continued profits growth and that 1986 will be “another very successful year”.
