Marylebone Warwick Balfour (MWB) has announced an increased pre-tax loss of £9.8m compared to losses of £3.3m in the previous year, but welcomed a “sea-change” in performance across the group.
The group focused first on equity shareholders’ funds, which lifted 46% to 145p per share.
Group net assets came in at £211m, with £89m of this accounted for by the enlarged Malmaison group.
MWB said it had cut net debt further to £377m from £468m driven by strong operational cash flow and proceeds from property sales.
Gearing nearly halved to 179% from 311%.
Group chairman Eric Sanderson said that its three divisions – Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin, the MWB Business Exchange, and Liberty had all performed solidly and were set for growth.
At Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin combined EBITDA was £16.2m during the year, up 38% year-on-year.
There are three new Malmaison hotels proposed and sites are being eyed in London and Dublin. Another Hotel du Vin is planned for Cambridge.
At MWB Business Exchange, which is considering an AIM listing, operating losses before tax fell to £1.4m from £4.6m.
Like-for-like licence fee income stalled at £40.6m with service income rising 17% to £13.8m.
The business has developed a four-pronged strategy:
- the four-star MWB Business Exchange;
- the mid-market City Executive Centres;
- Corporate Property Partnerships – providing landlords and occupiers with property solutions;
- meeting and conference rooms division – marketing existing serviced office facilities to external users
At Liberty turnover lifted 11% and it posted an operating EBITDA of plus £0.2m against a loss of £1m last year.
References: EGi News 22/09/05
