EZH.L Regulatory News (EZH)

31 July 2019

easyHotel plc

easyHotel plc

("easyHotel", the "Group" or the "Company")

European Development Update

87-room hotel acquisition in Nice, France

easyHotel plc, the owner, developer and operator of "super budget" branded hotels, announces that the Group has exchanged contracts to acquire the freehold of the 87-room Ibis Palais des Congres, Nice (the "Acquisition").

The Group will invest €11.7m to both acquire and rebrand the site and will also seek planning approval to add a further seven rooms to the property. The hotel is in excellent condition and following completion of the Acquisition the hotel will open immediately as easyHotel Nice. Completion is expected to take place in October 2019.

The popular tourist destination of Nice, located on the French Riviera is the fifth largest city in France, attracting over 10 million overnight hotel stays in 2018. It is home to the largest airport in France, outside of Paris, with c.14 million passengers passing through in 2018. The hotel is centrally located, close to a range of excellent transport facilities and a short walk from the Promenade des Anglais and Nice's popular Vieux Nice.

The Acquisition brings the Group's owned and franchised committed development pipeline, scheduled to open in the next financial year ending 30 September 2020, to 735 rooms across 5 hotels, with a further 976 rooms expected to open in the following year.

Commenting, Guy Parsons, Chief Executive of easyHotel plc said:

"This investment in our first owned hotel in France is testament to the ambitious plans we have to develop the easyHotel brand in Continental Europe. We see significant opportunities to develop owned hotels in France and Spain and are confident that we will receive planning permission this autumn for the 209-room hotel close to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport that we announced last December.

"Attracting over 4 million visitors every year, the iconic city of Nice is famous as one of France's premier tourist destinations, with recent years having seen significant investment in the City's infrastructure and services. We are delighted to have secured this excellent site and look forward to announcing further opportunities in due course."

ENDS

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

www.easyhotel.com http://ir.easyhotel.com 

easyHotel is the owner, developer, operator and franchisor of branded hotels. Its strategy is to target the super budget segment of the hotel industry by marketing "clean, comfortable and safe" hotel rooms to its customers.

Operating hotels

easyHotel's twelve owned hotels currently comprise [1,340] rooms, and it has a further 26 franchised hotels with [2,291] rooms.

Owned hotels:

United Kingdom: Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle*, Leeds, Sheffield, Ipswich and Milton Keynes.

Spain: Barcelona

Franchise locations:

United Kingdom: Edinburgh, London Heathrow, Central London, Luton, Reading and Belfast.

Europe: Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Bernkastel-Kues), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands (Amsterdam: City, Arena & Zaandam, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, The Hague, The Hague Scheveningen Beach, Maastricht,), Portugal (Lisbon), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich).

International: UAE (Dubai).

Hotel development pipeline

The Company's committed development pipeline of owned and franchised hotels currently consists of:

Owned hotels:

United Kingdom: Chester, Cardiff, Oxford*, Blackpool, Cambridge*# and Bristol#.

Europe: Ireland (Dublin#), France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, and Nice).

Franchise hotels:

Europe: Spain (Malaga), Switzerland (Zurich, Basel).

International: Iran, Sri Lanka, Turkey (Istanbul), UAE (Dubai).

*Hotels under an operating lease.

#Subject to planning permission.