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Plaza trading well
Park Plaza Hotels, the company that operates the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge has reported a 13.4 per cent increase in revenue per room to €89.30.
The group, which this June moved from AIM to the full list declared a swing into the black with profits of €1.4 million (2010: loss of €5.3 million) on revenue up 75.2 per cent to €95.9 million due to revenues from hotels including the Park Plaza Amsterdam Airport and Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London. Occupancy increased from 73.2 per cent to 75.5 per cent while the average room rate rose from €107.5 to €118.2. Net debt was down slightly from €369.9 million to €359.4 million.
In its UK operations sales climbed 135.3 per cent to €66.5 million due to contributions from Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London as well as its hotels in Victoria, the Riverbank hotel near the Tate London and its Sherlock Holmes hotel on Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes was said to have lived on Baker Street.) The company noted that it had recently acquired a site in Park Royal, West London for £6 million which it said it was looking to convert into a new hotel.
In Holland sales increased from €110.3 million to €11.8 million while in Germany and Hungary revenue rose from €12.3 million to €14.3 million. Park Plaza noted that it had recently acquired a site in Pattaya Bay, Thailand which it is is hoping to use 'to expand into Asia with the development of a 40,000 square metre mixed-use complex.' Closer to home it remarks that it 'continues to trade in line' with board expectations but is remaining 'vigilant' to what it describes as 'the effects of the civil unrest in the UK' as well as the 'continued uncertainty in the global financial markets.'
Analysts at paid-for research house Edison are forecasting pre-tax profits of €9 million (EPS: 21.5 cents) on turnover of €195 million for the year to December 2011. In 2012 it is penciling in profits of €15 million (EPS: 35.9 cents) on sales of €210 million.
The company has a sizeable net debt position but in the hotel business high levels of gearing are the norm. It operates hotels in prime locations such as Baker Street and Westminster Bridge, with the London hotel market having been insulated from the wider gloom in the sector that has effected hoteliers in the regions. The company is certainly no minnow at 227.5p a share but upside via an increase in average room rate is a possibility. We rate the shares as a long-term buy.
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