8th Sep 2015 08:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Action Hotels PLC Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the first half of 2015, despite a rise in revenue, as it booked higher costs associated with the opening of new hotels and an increased depreciation charge, and it announced that Chief Financial Officer Krish Sundaresan is leaving the company.
The owner of three and four-star hotels in the Middle East and Australia reported a pretax loss in the six months ended June 30 of USD556,000, having made a USD91,000 pretax profit in the first half of 2014, as it was hit by higher pre-opening expenses, a higher depreciation charge from the larger freehold portfolio, and increased finance costs.
Revenue, however, grew 11% to USD21.7 million from USD19.5 million, which it said was driven by new hotel openings combined with an improved performance at operating hotels. Revenue per available room rose 1.3% on a like-for-like basis.
Action Hotels will pay an interim dividend of 0.74 pence, a 3% rise on the year before.
"We have had a good start to 2015 and anticipate our results to be in line with our expectations. Looking forward, we remain very focused on delivering strong returns and generating value for our shareholders as we pursue the execution of the pipeline and explore further growth opportunities," Chief Executive Alain Debare said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Action Hotels said that Chief Financial Officer Krish Sundaresan is leaving the company with immediate effect to take up the role of chief operating officer at Dubai Investments PJSC. He will continue to assist Action Hotels until a successor is appointed.
"We are disappointed to see Krish leave Action Hotels. We are setting in motion a search for his successor. We have a strong finance function and are confident it will meet the company's needs until a successor is appointed," Debare said.
Shares in Action Hotels were trading down 2.7% at 55.00 pence Tuesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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