LONDON (Alliance News) - Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC Tuesday reported a 36% drop in its pretax profit for 2014, after last year's profit and revenue was boosted by the sale of the Glyndebourne development the year before, although the group's underlying business continued to be driven by higher room rates, occupancy and hotel acquisitions.
The FTSE 250-listed hotels operator reported a pretax profit of GBP188 million for 2014, compared with a GBP295 million profit in 2013, as revenue fell by more than 22% to GBP826 million, down from GBP1.06 billion the year before.
The group sold 147 condominiums in the Glyndebourne development in Singapore back in December 2013, which boosted both revenue and profit during that year. However, the sale caused earnings to slump significantly in 2014. Excluding contributions from Glyndebourne, the group said its pretax profit increased by 17% to EUR183 million from GBP156 million last year at reported rates, including net revaluation gains of GBP27 million and no impairment losses for the year, compared with GBP21 million last year.
Revenue excluding Glyndebourne rose 3.8% to GBP820 million, which it said was driven mainly by acquisitions and its recently refurbished hotels.
"Our results in 2013 were boosted significantly by the recognition of revenue and profit on the Glyndebourne development. Our hotel trading results were positive, despite revenue and profit being adversely affected by the strength of the pound sterling, especially during the earlier part of the financial year," said Chairman Kewk Leng Beng in a statement.
Millennium & Copthorne said group revenue per available room rose 2.8% to GBP71.55 in 2014, from GBP69.58 in 2013, and by 6.9% at constant currency rates - driven by growth in the US. Average room rate in constant currency increased by 4.2%, the group said, and occupancy rose by 1.9 percentage points.
The group said in the first 31 days of trading in 2015, group revenue per available room increased by 6.9%, with Europe up by 9.1%, the US up by 13.1%, Australasia up by 13.0% and Asia down by 1.6%.
"The group is well positioned to generate further improvement in operating performance in 2015, subject to ongoing concern about the sustainability of economic recovery and other factors affecting the world travel and hospitality markets," the company said.
Millennium & Copthorne left its dividend for the year unchanged at 13.59 pence per share, having paid out a special dividend in 2013 relating to the profit from the Glyndebourne sale.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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