Leisure group Hilton today said profits had slipped 25% in the
first four months of the year after its hotels suffered from tough
trading conditions caused by the war in Iraq and the Sars outbreak in
Asia.
Watford-based Hilton, which has 400 hotels around the world, has
also been hit this year by continuing stock market uncertainty which
has depressed consumer confidence and dampened corporate spending on
hotels and travel.
But in a trading statement for the four months to April 30, Hilton
said a strong performance from its Ladbrokes bookmaking operation had
partially offset the difficult trading conditions seen in the hotel
division.
“Overall, however, the group’s performance is currently expected
to be broadly in line with the market’s full year expectations,” the
statement said.
Ladbrokes continued to grow operating profit and this is expected
to accelerate during the year thanks toing electronic gaming and
telephone betting.
The online casino game ladbrokespoker.com had “surpassed
expectations” since launch, Hilton said.
City analysts are forecasting pre-tax profits of around £270m for the full year, roughly in-line with the £271m Hilton reported last year.
For the hotel operations, the key industry measure revpar – revenue
per available room – declined during the course of the Iraq war,
falling to minus 9.7% across the whole division in March and April,
having been ahead by 3.3% in January.
Hilton’s hotels in London and the Middle East and Asia were
particularly hard hit, falling 14.1% and 16.1% respectively during
March and April.
Since the war ended, bookings are up and Hilton is predicting the
business will return to normal later in the summer.
The company’s hotels experienced a slump during the first Gulf War
in 1991 when travellers stayed at home. But once the conflict was
over, business picked up quickly.
Hilton also announced the appointment of BT’s finance director Ian
Livingston as a non-executive director. He will join the board from
June 1, Livingston was previously finance director at electronics
retailer Dixons before moving to BT last year.
References: EGi News 16/05/03
