LONDON (Alliance News) - EasyHotel PLC Wednesday reported a rise in profit in the first half of its financial year, as revenue doubled on the back of the expansion of its hotel portfolio, and it also announced the resignation of its current chairman.
The budget hotels operator reported a pretax profit in the six months to March 31 of GBP365,352, up from GBP342,521 in the same period the prior year. Revenue doubled to GBP2.6 million from GBP1.3 million.
EasyHotel said revenue growth was driven primarily by an increase in the capacity of its owned hotel portfolio, in which 173 rooms were added, and was particularly boosted by the opening of easyHotel Croydon in November. EasyHotel didn't provide an like-for-like revenue comparison.
However, it said that profit growth was damped by costs incurred from its initial public offering.
The company added that Chairman Jan Astrand will step down from his role on July 1, and said current Non-Executive Director Jonathan Lane will take on the role of non-executive chairman from July 2. EasyHotel is one of the portfolio of companies of the billionaire founder of easyJet PLC, Stelios Haji-Ioannou.
"Our expansion strategy is progressing well, with a new site acquired in Liverpool expected to open in Spring 2016. In addition, there has been an ongoing commitment to marketing and enhancing our customer experience, with a new website launched in March 2015 and a focus on improved customer service," Chief Executive Simon Champion said in a statement.
"Trading for the year ending September 30, 2015 continues in line with the board's expectations and we remain confident that we can secure properties in the UK and key European gateway cities and continue to expand our franchised hotels elsewhere, delivering a high return on investment for our shareholders," Champion added.
EasyHotel said it expects to pay its maiden dividend in April 2016 for the year ended September 2015, providing no "exceptional circumstances" arise.
Shares in easyHotel were trading down 8.6% at 74.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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