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(Alliance News) - Premier Inn hotel chain owner Whitbread PLC on Tuesday said its annual performance reflected the virus restrictions that were in place for the bulk of the period.
Revenue for the financial year that ended February 25 plummeted 72% to GBP589.4 million from GBP2.07 billion the year before, sending Whitbread to a pretax loss of GBP1.01 billion from a profit of GBP280.0 million.
The loss included an impairment charge of GBP348.0 million relating to goodwill in Germany, property, plant and equipment and right-of-use assets, as a result of impairment reviews triggered by the Covid-19 situation and its impact on current and future growth rates.
Whitbread also noted that its performance reflected the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place for the majority of the year in both the UK and Germany. This resulted in the closure of the company's hotels and restaurants for "substantial" periods of the year.
Specifically, in the UK, Whitbread said it has outperformed the midscale and economy hotel market since reopening in August, with customer scores also remaining "very strong", despite the disruption.
In Germany, the market and the company's hotels operated at low levels of occupancy due to the pandemic. Despite this, Whitbread said it was able to accelerate the growth of its hotel network during the year, with a total open and committed pipeline now standing at 72 hotels.
No payout was recommended for the recently ended year, after a total dividend of 32.7p paid for the 2020 financial year.
Whitbread said dividends will not be paid during its current revolving credit facility covenant waiver period, which lasts until March 2023, as a condition agreed with lenders and pension trustees, or until the original covenant tests are passed.
"The board hopes to return to paying dividends again following the normalisation of the group's financial position and performance," Whitbread said.
Going forward, the company said it expects to invest over GBP350 million of capital in its current financial year, with commercial initiatives set to help both leisure and business demand recovery.
In the UK, currently over 92% of the company's hotels are open, and Whitbread said it is ready to welcome leisure customers back to its hotels from May 17, alongside the full reopening of all of its restaurants.
In Germany, currently 18 of Whitbread's 30 operational hotels are open, with 6 of the temporarily closed hotels being refurbished and rebranded to Premier Inn.
Whitbread said it is planning on opening 2,000 to 3,000 of its pipeline rooms in the UK and 2,000 rooms in Germany in the year ahead.
Whitbread shares were trading 1.9% lower in London on Tuesday at 3,347.00 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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