Last checked at 11 Feb 2008 08:49
India Hospitality Corp.'s SkyGourmet Expansion Takes Off Mumbai Increases Capacity 50 Percent, Chennai Operations Open in January
NEW YORK, Feb. 11. -- India Hospitality Corp. today announced that SkyGourmet Catering Pvt. Ltd. is expanding its Air Catering Unit (ACU) in Mumbai by 50%, while its fourth and newest kitchen in Chennai opened the last week of January 2008 with an initial capacity of 10,000 meals per day.
SkyGourmet's unaudited revenues nearly doubled in its last fiscal year, and its Mumbai unit was fast approaching capacity limits. Chennai, which has become an emerging automobile manufacturing hub in India, has experienced a significant increase in air travel. The company expects a continued surge from both international and domestic travel growth across India and provides each of its kitchens substantial scalability to meet growing customer demand.
"Kitchen expansions form the bedrock of India Hospitality Corp's strategy to quickly make SkyGourmet the leading provider of airline catering services in India," noted Mr. Rick Foyston, India Hospitality's interim CEO and Founder Partner of Navis Capital Partners. "India's aviation industry is booming, and SkyGourmet is poised to capture market share by maintaining the highest standards of quality while opening new kitchens and expanding in key markets."
SkyGourmet now has operating units in the four major airport cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai, with additional new kitchens coming on line in Hyderabad and Kolkata within the next six months. The company caters to major domestic airlines, namely Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Indian Airlines, Air India Express, and Jet Lite. Air France and Malaysian Airlines, some of the major international airlines operating out of India, are also SkyGourmet's customers.
Industry experts estimate domestic travel alone in India is set to grow 25% per year for the next five years, prompting the Ministry of Civil Aviation to plan 500 fully operational airports by 2020 compared with just 80 operating presently. Today, only 30% of India's airports account for nearly 94% of total airline traffic.
IHC is excited about India's multi-faceted hospitality and food service industries that provide a plethora of consolidation opportunities. It will continue to evaluate additional opportunities and deploy capital selectively into projects with attractive risk-return profiles. Given the rapidly changing dynamics within the Indian hospitality, leisure and food service sectors, inputs affecting the Company's capital deployment decisions may alter its acquisition evaluation. In that context and with several other possible investment opportunities under evaluation, the Company will not be acquiring the Nirula's chain of restaurants, which was under consideration during the year. Nirula's CEO, Samir Kuckreja and Navis Capital Partners continue to have majority ownership of the company.
About India Hospitality Corp.
In August 2006, India Hospitality Corp. raised US $103 million in an IPO and private placement and is listed on AIM, a market operated by London Stock Exchange plc, under the ticker IHC. IHC was originally created as a blank check company and was sponsored and advised by Hayground Cove Asset Management LLC, a New York-based investment management firm.
In July 2007, IHC closed on the acquisition from Navis Capital Partners and its Affiliates of India-based Mars Restaurants Private Limited ("Mars"), an emerging hotel and restaurant company, and SkyGourmet Catering Private Limited ("SkyGourmet"), an airline catering company with 1,700 employees operating out of four locations in India.
In December 2007, in order to fund strategic growth initiatives, Hayground Cove and Navis Capital jointly invested US $28 million of additional capital in IHC, bringing their total invested capital to US $56 million. Following such reinvestment, Hayground Cove and Navis own approximately 52% of India Hospitality.
IHC generated approximately US $30 million in unaudited consolidated revenues in fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, an approximate 50% increase from 2006.
About Mars and SkyGourmet
Since its incorporation in 2000, Mars has diversified into bakery outlets and operating and managing food courts and hotels. SkyGourmet was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Mumbai. SkyGourmet currently provides in-flight catering services to a number of domestic and international airlines, including Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Air India Express, Indian Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Air France. It has operations in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai. For the nine months ended December 31, 2006, the combined entities had audited revenues of approximately US $18.9 million and 1,700 employees.
Deutsche Bank AG is authorised under German Banking Law (competent authority: BaFin - Federal Financial Supervising Authority) and with respect to UK commodity derivatives business by the Financial Services Authority; regulated by the Financial Services Authority for the conduct of UK business. Deutsche Bank is acting exclusively for IHC and no-one else in connection with the acquisition and related transactions and other matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than IHC for providing the protections afforded to clients of Deutsche Bank AG nor for providing advice in relation to the acquisitions and related transactions or any matter referred to in this announcement.
Deutsche Bank is IHC's nominated adviser and broker for the purposes of the AIM Rules for Companies. Its responsibilities as IHC's nominated adviser and broker under the AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers are owed solely to London Stock Exchange plc and not to IHC, any director of IHC or any other person.
No offer or invitation to purchase or subscribe for ordinary shares in or warrants to purchase or subscribe for ordinary shares or warrants of IHC is being made by this announcement.
For Further Information Contact: Investor Relations Contact: ICR Inc. William Schmitt 203-682-8200 Nominated Adviser and Broker: Deutsche Bank Mumtaz Naseem +44 20 7545 8000
SOURCE India Hospitality Corp.
02/11/2008
/CONTACT: investor, William Schmitt, ICR Inc., +1-203-682-8200; or Mumtaz Naseem, Nominated Adviser and Broker: Deutsche Bank, +44 20 7545 8000 /
INDIA HOSPITALITY CORPORATION