(Alliance News) - PPHE Hotel Group Ltd on Thursday reported a narrowed interim loss as the hotel operator benefited from strong pent-up travel demand following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
In the six months ended June 30, PPHE narrowed its pretax loss to GBP26.1 million from GBP50.3 million in the previous year, despite operating expenses more than doubling to GBP95.0 million from GBP38.6 million.
Revenue multiplied to GBP113.2 million from GBP25.8 million. The firm said this represented 73% of the pre-pandemic levels reported in the first half of 2019.
The surge in revenue was driven by strong room rate growth and a good recovery in occupancy rates, PPHE explained.
Its average room rate was GBP141.1, up 48% against the previous year and up 16% on 2019. Occupancy grew to 48% against 13% last year, though this remained well below its pre-pandemic percentage of 77% in 2019.
"All our key markets delivered strong growth, with the UK leading the way as it benefited from the earlier lifting of pandemic restrictions compared with other markets. The Netherlands, Germany and Croatia have shown increasingly strong recoveries as the months progressed and restrictions were lifted," the company said.
As a result of its strong interim performance, PPHE re-instated a dividend of 3.0 pence per share.
Looking forward to the second half, PPHE estimates that total revenue in July and August was above the same period in 2019 as a result of a strong room rate performance.
PPHE Hotel Group is a real estate firm that develops, owns, and operates hotels and resorts internationally. Shares in the firm were untraded at 1,400.00 pence on Thursday morning in London.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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