LONDON (Alliance News) - Peel Hotels PLC Thursday said it hopes to pay a dividend in the future as it swung to profit in the recent full year.
The company posted pretax profit of GBP341,863 for the period ended February 2, compared with a GBP97,411 loss a year earlier. Operating profit rose to GBP929,627 from GBP560,979 in the corresponding period.
Revenue rose 1.8% to GBP15.5 million from GBP15.2 million a year ago. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to GBP2.0 million from GBP1.7 million.
During the period, Peel said it spent GBP519,328 on the refurbishment of bedrooms at the Bull Hotel, Peterborough, Midland Hotel, Bradford, the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Leeds and the reception hall at the Caledonian Hotel, Newcastle. It also resurfaced the car park at the Crown and Mitre Hotel in Carlisle.
Financially, the company said net debt decreased to GBP11.7 million from GBP12.4 million.
'We hope to sustain improvements in EBITDA growth on the back of a slowly recovering market place and this, together with lower finance costs, should transform the profitability of the group giving us options in terms of reappearing on the dividend list, increased capital expenditure and further debt repayments," Chairman Robert Peel said in a statement.
Peel Hotels shares were quoted up 5.2% at 78.4 pence Thursday afternoon.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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