TIDMEZH
RNS Number : 3054Q
easyHotel PLC
18 October 2019
18 October 2019
easyHotel plc
easyHotel plc
("easyHotel", the "Group" or the "Company")
Year End Trading Update
The Board of easyHotel plc, the owner, developer and operator of
"super budget" hotels, today issues the following trading update
for the financial year ended 30 September 2019 (the "period")
Trading Overview
Despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty facing
the UK, the Group's owned hotels have continued to outperform the
UK Hotel Market* on a like-for-like basis.
-- Total system sales up 28% to GBP47.8m (30 September
2018: GBP37.3m)
-- Revenue up 56% to GBP17.6m (30 September 2018: GBP11.3m)
-- Owned hotels like-for-like RevPar up 7.7%
-- Franchise like-for-like RevPar down 1.6%
The UK Mid-scale and economy segment of the hotel market has
continued to be impacted by the ongoing political and economic
uncertainty with RevPar down 0.7% for the period, according to STR
Global. Although the London market has continued to perform
strongly, with RevPar growing by 4.5%, the regional UK market's
RevPar has remained weak, down some 2.8%, with a number of regions
experiencing double digit RevPar declines during the calendar
year.
Whilst the European markets have on the whole continued to
outperform the UK, performance has been mixed on a
country-by-country basis with RevPar growth slowing during the
second half of the financial year. Performance across the Group's
franchised hotels has marginally improved during the second half of
the financial year, despite market weakness in the Netherlands and
Germany.
Delivering continued market outperformance in challenging
trading conditions has required an investment in both price and an
increased use of online travel agents (OTAs). The Group has
maintained a tight control of central costs, in support of
delivering its year end targets, but against this more challenging
trading environment the Board anticipates that Group adjusted
EBITDA will closer to GBP4.6m for the year ended 30 September
2019.
Owned Hotel Development Update
During the second half of the period the Group has successfully
refurbished and reopened easyHotel Old Street (89 rooms) and let
the self-contained 15,500 sq.ft. offices. easyHotel Milton Keynes
(124 rooms) opened earlier than planned and both hotels are trading
strongly.
On 1 October 2019 the Group completed the acquisition of the
87-room Ibis Palais de Congres in Nice, with the hotel opening for
trading immediately on completion.
Although, the Group has experienced planning delays for some of
its hotels currently under development, it still expects to open
385 rooms (which includes the 87 rooms for Nice) across four hotels
in the next financial year ending 30 September 2020. A further 701
rooms are expected to open in the following financial year.
Franchised Hotel Development Pipeline
During the period the Group opened two franchised hotels, at
Zurich (39 rooms) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (154 rooms).
Malaga (146 rooms) will open in the next financial year.
Although the pipeline for franchised hotels is strong, it is
unlikely that the hotels in Bur Dubai, Istanbul, Iran or Sri Lanka
will open.
Dividend Policy
Whilst no decision has been made, the Board expects that the
Group's current dividend policy will be reviewed prior to the
publication of the Company's results for the year ended 30
September 2019. As part of that review the Board will consider
whether it is appropriate to continue to pay a dividend whilst the
Group's activities and capital allocation priorities remain
focussed on investing in and growing its hotel estate.
Commenting, Guy Parsons, Chief Executive of easyHotel plc
said:
"The hotel markets have remained challenging in the second half
of the financial year, particularly in the UK where we are seeing
dampened consumer confidence. Whilst our owned hotels have
continued to outperform the market, we have not been immune to the
weaker regional hotel market and trading across our franchised
portfolio has continued to be subdued.
"Whilst we don't foresee any improvement to the trading
environment in the medium term, we are focused on our strategic
priorities and believe the current economic uncertainties will
present attractive investment opportunities to continue to expand
our development pipeline in our target destinations, underpinning
the long-term growth of the brand."
* Market Source: Midscale & Economy (MSE) segment from the
UK Performance Monitor report, produced by STR Global
ENDS
Enquiries:
easyHotel plc
Guy Parsons, Chief Executive www.easyhotel.com
Officer
Gary Burton, Chief Financial http://ir.easyhotel.com
Officer
Investec (Nominated Adviser
and Broker) +44 (0) 20 7597 5970
Chris Treneman / David Anderson
Houston PR (Financial PR) +44 (0) 20 3701 7660
Kate Hoare / Laura Stewart
Notes to Editors:
www.easyhotel.com http://ir.easyhotel.com
easyHotel is the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of
branded hotels. Its strategy is to target the super budget segment
of the hotel industry by marketing "clean, comfortable and safe"
hotel rooms to its customers.
Operating hotels
easyHotel has an estate of 40 hotels with 3,759 rooms,
comprising 27 franchised hotels (2,332 rooms) and 13 owned hotels
(1,427 rooms).
Owned hotels:
United Kingdom: Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon,
Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle*, Leeds, Sheffield,
Ipswich, Milton Keynes.
Spain: Barcelona
France: Nice
Franchise locations:
United Kingdom: Edinburgh, London Heathrow, Central London,
Luton, Reading and Belfast.
Europe: Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Germany (Berlin,
Frankfurt, Bernkastel-Kues), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands
(Amsterdam: City, Arena & Zaandam, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport,
Rotterdam, The Hague, The Hague Scheveningen Beach, Maastricht,),
Portugal (Lisbon), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich).
International: UAE (Dubai).
Hotel development pipeline
The Company's committed development pipeline of owned and
franchised hotels currently consists of:
Owned hotels:
United Kingdom: Chester, Cardiff, Oxford*, Blackpool, Cambridge*
and Bristol(#) .
Europe: Ireland (Dublin(#) ), France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Airport).
Franchise hotels:
Europe: Spain (Malaga), Switzerland (Zurich, Basel).
*Hotels under an operating lease.
(#) Subject to planning permission.
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END
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