TIDMEZH
RNS Number : 5714N
easyHotel PLC
21 January 2019
21 January 2019
easyHotel plc
easyHotel plc
("easyHotel", "the Group" or "the Company")
Trading Update
easyHotel, the owner, developer and operator of super budget
branded hotels, today issues the following trading update for the
first quarter of the current financial year to date ("the period")
in advance of its Annual General Meeting to be held later
today.
Trading Overview
Despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty that is
affecting consumer confidence, particularly in the UK, the Group
has continued to outperform both its competitive set and the wider
hotel market:
-- Total system sales up 31%.
-- Revenue up 60%
-- Owned hotels like-for-like Revpar-- up 11.2%, outperforming their competitive set by 5.2%.
We are now in our 4(th) year of market outperformance (as
measured by STR) for our owned hotels. The Board however believe
that that the 2019 financial year will be more challenging than
2018 and have taken the decision to continue to drive revenue
growth and brand recognition, at the expense of gross margin,
through increasing the use of online travel agents (OTAs) as
compared with prior periods.
Our franchised hotels performed particularly well across the UK.
However, results across the wider European market were more varied,
and the easyHotels in Holland performed less strongly than they had
in 2018.
New Hotel Openings
Our hotels opened during the last quarter of last year are
trading well, exceeding our occupancy targets. Already in the
period we have opened three new hotels; a new 89-bedroom owned
hotel in Ipswich and two franchised hotels (201-bedrooms) in Lisbon
and Bernkastel Kues.
Owned Hotel Development
The Group has continued to extend its pipeline during the period
with new hotel developments added both in the UK and mainland
Europe.
In October 2018 a freehold site in central Bristol was acquired
for the development of a 145-bedroom easyHotel which, subject to
planning permission, is expected to open in 2020.
In December 2018 the Group also confirmed that it had submitted
a planning application for the development of a 209-room leased
easyHotel, close to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France. The
new-build hotel is anticipated to open in the 2020/21 financial
year.
The GBP7m full refurbishment of the Group's freehold property at
80 Old Street is also now underway. The building is expected to
reopen as an 89-bedroom hotel in the second half of 2019 with
15,500 sq. ft of separate airconditioned office accommodation
available for let.
The construction of the 124-bedroom easyHotel Milton Keynes is
well advanced and the hotel will open later this financial
year.
Other new owned hotels projects currently in development include
Oxford (180 rooms) Cambridge (100 rooms), Chester (109 rooms),
Cardiff (120 rooms), Dublin (130 rooms) and Blackpool (103 rooms).
All are anticipated to open in the Group's 2020/2021 financial
year.
Franchised Hotel Development
The Group currently has a further seven franchised hotels
currently under development including openings in 2019 in Malaga
(146 rooms), Zurich (150 rooms, across more than one hotel), Basel
(24 rooms) and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (154 rooms) - all planned
in 2019 - and Bur Dubai (300 rooms), which will open in 2020.
Central Costs
The Board have been delighted to welcome Gary Burton as Chief
Financial Officer, during the period. This has allowed Marc
Vieilledent to assume his new role as Group Development Director.
The European development team, announced in July is now in place to
take advantage of the growing opportunities in France and Spain, in
particular.
Given the market and economic uncertainties, the Board has
accelerated the decision to appoint an experienced Trading
Director. Ian Coles has recently joined the business from Virgin
Trains, having previously worked at British Airways. Ian will focus
on maintaining the brand's market outperformance and increasing the
percentage of direct, rather than OTA, bookings.
The Group now has a very experienced Executive team in place to
drive the agreed strategy and deliver long-term shareholder value.
These additional senior appointments have contributed towards our
increased central costs of GBP1.2m year on year with a total
annualised cost of cGBP5m.
Commenting, Guy Parsons, CEO of easyHotel plc, said:
"Whilst we are not immune from the ongoing political and
economic challenges and their impact on the hotel sector, our
robust business model means that we have continued to outperform
our markets in the period.
"These current uncertainties are presenting us with
opportunities, which might not otherwise be possible, to acquire
sites on good terms in central locations in our core target cities,
such as Dublin, Bristol and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
"Well publicised uncertainties and frequent regulatory delays
can postpone completion of our hotels and how quickly they reach
maturity. However, we are making good progress with our strategic
priorities and are confident that the appeal of easyHotel's super
budget brand will deliver long-term growth."
-- Like-for-like Revpar calculated for those hotels open 12
months or more during the period.
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
David Anderson
Houston PR (Financial PR) +44 (0) 20 3701 7660
Hamish Thompson
Polly Fairbank
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's eleven owned hotels currently comprise 1,219 rooms,
and it has a further 25 franchised hotels with 2,139 rooms.
Owned hotels:
United Kingdom: Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon,
Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle*, Leeds, Sheffield and
Ipswich.
Spain: Barcelona
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, 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: Milton Keynes, Chester, Cardiff, Oxford*.
Subject to planning consent: Cambridge*, Blackpool and Bristol.
Europe: Subject to planning consent: Ireland (Dublin), France
(Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport*).
Franchise hotels:
Europe: Spain (Malaga), Switzerland (Zurich, Basel), Netherlands
(Amsterdam Schiphol Airport).
International: Iran, Sri Lanka, Turkey (Istanbul), UAE
(Dubai).
*Hotels under an operating lease.
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END
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