Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results

13 April 2016

easyHotel plc("easyHotel" or the "Company")

Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results

easyHotel, the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of "super budget" branded hotels, today announces a trading update for the six months ended 31 March 2016. 

Trading

Trading for the six months ended 31 March 2016 was slightly above the Board's expectations. This performance was mainly driven by owned hotels like-for-like revenue up 8.0% for the six months to 31 March 2016 compared with the same period last year, benefiting from the new revenue strategy announced in December 2015.

During the period, owned hotels outperformed their competitive set (source: STR Global), particularly in the second quarter of the financial year, which is encouraging in the lead up to traditionally the busiest trading months of the year for hoteliers. 

Franchise hotel trading, central overheads and pre-opening costs were in line with the Board's expectations during the period.

The Company continues to maintain a tight control of costs and is committed to improving its operational efficiency, whilst ensuring it has the appropriate infrastructure and resources in place to execute the Company's ambitious growth strategy.

In late February 2016, a UK Development Director was appointed to support the Company's owned hotel growth strategy. This followed the restructuring of the operational and management team during the second half of 2015. Other key appointments include an Operations Director, a Project Manager and a Human Resources Manager, all of whom have relevant hotel industry experience.

Development pipeline

Since the start of the financial year, the Company has significantly extended its owned and franchised development pipeline, with the addition of six new hotel projects. 

In the UK, the new development in Liverpool is expected to open by January 2017 and in Manchester by April 2017. The acquisitions in Birmingham and Ipswich announced in January 2016 remain subject to planning permission, with the hotels anticipated to open by March and June 2017 respectively. The acquisition of land in L'Hospitalet de LLobregat, Barcelona, announced in January 2016, is progressing as anticipated. This, our first owned hotel outside the UK, is expected to open, subject to planning consent, in early 2018 as previously announced.

As the Board continues to review a number of potential acquisitions against its strict criteria, it is considering its funding options to take full advantage of these opportunities. Sites under review include a range of office conversions, greenfield development sites and the conversion of existing hotel businesses.

The Company's Benelux franchisee is expected to open easyHotel Amsterdam and easyHotel Brussels by early 2017, and in the Middle East easyHotel's recently appointed development partner is continuing to progress towards its target of 600 rooms in the UAE and Oman by December 2017 having received planning permission for the first 300-room hotel at Bur Dubai.

Commenting on today's announcement, Guy Parsons, Chief Executive Officer said:

"We are very pleased to report that during the first half of the financial year our operational initiatives and strategic focus have had a positive impact, earlier than originally anticipated, on our trading performance and expansion of our development pipeline. There remains further scope to improve our revenue. With the right management team in place we can now expand our owned and franchised network in line with our exciting business plan."

The Company will announce its Interim Results for the six months ended 31 March 2016 on 24 May 2016.

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

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. Website: www.easyHotel.com 

 Operating hotels

easyHotel's owned hotels currently comprise 390 rooms, and it has a further 18 franchised hotels with 1,490 rooms. 

Owned hotels:

Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon.

Franchise locations:

Bulgaria (Sofia), Czech Republic (Prague), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich), UAE (Dubai), UK (Edinburgh, Luton, London Heathrow and Central London).

Hotel development pipeline

The Company's development pipeline of owned and franchised hotels currently consists of:

Owned hotels:

Liverpool (UK), Manchester (UK)

Subject to planning permission: Barcelona (Spain), Birmingham (UK), Ipswich (UK)

Franchise hotels:

Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Dubai (UAE)

-ends-