Dalata Hotel Group announced the acquisition of the Holiday Inn Belfast as the group reported its EBITDA had increased by 14.2% to just under £6m.
The growth in earnings came as the group increased revenues by more than 30% to £79m in the full year to the end of December, from £60m in 2013.
In part the increase in revenues came through an increase in the hotel group’s revenue per available room, which grew by 15.7%, like-for-like, as average room rates increased by 13.4%.
Overheads at the group also increased, however, as the cost of acquisitions made throughout the year added to existing expenses.
The company acquired 13 hotels in the 15 months since the beginning of January 2014, aided by the company’s flotation in March last year for £256m net.
In 2014 it acquired three hotels for a total of €35m and since the end of December 2014 the chain has acquired nine more hotels, for a total of €495m, across Ireland.
The latest acquisition was the Holiday Inn in Belfast. Purchased for £18.5m, the hotel has 170 rooms and has an attributable EBITDA of £1.4m.
Total acquisition costs of the latest nine hotels before the purchase of the Holiday Inn were stated as €495m, with the capital raised in the flotation being fully utilised. An additional €282m has been raised in a long-term loan facility.
