Our latest Investing Matters Podcast episode with QuotedData's Edward Marten has just been released. Listen here.
sailing into the headwinds of national living wage, brexit, covid, labour shortages, laundry issues, driver issues, labour inflation, food inflation, energy costs surging, they have to raise the room rates , leisure budget travel will fall, 4 star corporate deal business man may be pushed into premium economy . i'm gonna hold in for the long haul even though germany is a basket case
i foresee WTB as another in the long list of companies taking on a foreign territory and failing, badly.
Germany is a mess . Big investment , big losses into a market doomed to fail. This move was all about showing how Premier Inn could scale globaly to hook a buyer. Nobody has taken the bait
M&B and Wetherspoon are pretty much 100% pub businesses though (JDW does have a small number of hotels). WTB are primarily a hotel company with some pubs next door in some locations not all. The focus is on hotel reopening I'd wager
8% down as there are clearly choppy waters ahead.
Germany is a massive gamble , will be years before they turn a profit there
In the UK occupancy will be very low and may never return to the 80% they were running at now we have all learned to work from home and not travel so much. I can see sub £20 next week
Let's remember, the bulk of this £1Bn income from existing shareholders is to keep the company afloat - defensive. The spin about being aggressive in the property and growth market isn't fully accurate . Even once hotels open fully occupancy rates are going to be low for some time and REVPAR will not be anywhere near profitable.
In Germany they are flogging rooms at €39 per night . No profit in that , not even near .
Happy to have not taken the £15 and will bank the £10.50 or whatever it is per share and invest elsewhere.