TIDMEZH
RNS Number : 4888K
easyHotel PLC
11 April 2018
11 April 2018
easyHotel plc
easyHotel plc
("easyHotel", the "Group" or the "Company")
Trading Update &
Conditional acquisition of a site for the development of
109-bedroom in Chester
The Board of easyHotel plc, the owner, developer and operator of
super budget hotels, today issues the following trading update for
the six months ended 31 March 2018 (the "period").
Trading Overview
The Group has continued to significantly outperform the budget
market over the course of the period.
-- Total system sales[1] up 33.6% to GBP16.10m (31 March 2017: GBP12.05m)
-- Owned hotels Revpar([2]) up 11.2% to GBP36.60 (31 March 2017: GBP32.90), and have outperformed
their competitive set by 11.7% (source: STR Global)
-- Like-for-like revenue for franchised hotels increased by 13.5%
This strong performance reflects the continued impact of
easyHotel's new booking engine and yield management systems, the
growing strength of the easyHotel brand and continued expansion of
the network of hotels in key UK and European destinations.
New Hotel Openings
The period saw the opening of a new owned 78-room hotel in
Liverpool and the acquisition and opening of a 104-room leased
hotel in Newcastle. Both hotels have traded strongly, in line with
the performance trend of the hotels opened during the last
financial year.
The Group also expanded its franchise portfolio with the opening
of the 87-bedroom easyHotel The Hague, Scheveningen Beach in March
2018.
These openings increase the Group's footprint to 2,430 rooms
across 27 hotels in 18 Cities.
Owned Hotel Refurbishment
The GBP1.5m refurbishment of the Group's hotels in Croydon and
Glasgow was completed in March, bringing both hotels into line with
the new easyHotel brand look.
As previously announced, the Board plans to retain a 92-room
hotel at Old Street, refurbishing it in line with the new brand
format. Planning permission is being sought to add an additional
floor to the building and increase the Net Internal Area of the
building, for use as office accommodation, which should maximise
value from this freehold property.
Conditional acquisition of a site for development of a hotel in
Chester
Today easyHotel announces that it has agreed to acquire the
freehold of a central site in the historical city of Chester for
the development of a new-build 109-bedroom hotel. The acquisition
is subject to planning permission.
Located on Forest Street, the site is ideally situated just 500
meters from Chester railway station and close to the centre of this
historic walled city. A popular tourist destination, Chester is
well known for its well preserved Roman forts, walls and
amphitheatre with a number of major leisure attractions nearby
including Chester zoo, Chester race course, Chester castle and
Tatton park. The City is a busy shopping destination with a
thriving business park, well-known as a specialist hub for
financial services and biotech businesses.
The brownfield site will be developed into a purpose-built hotel
that is expected to open in 2019. The hotel is being delivered to
easyHotel as a turnkey development and the total expected cost for
acquisition and construction is approximately GBP7 million.
Owned Hotel Development Pipeline
Since 1 October 2017 the Group added a further 453 rooms to its
owned hotel development pipeline with plans for new hotels in
Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Cambridge and Chester. All four hotels are
anticipated to open in 2019.
Other new hotel projects currently under construction include
Leeds (93 rooms), Sheffield (131 rooms), Ipswich (89 rooms) and
Barcelona (204 rooms), which are all expected to open this calendar
year.
Franchised Hotel Development Pipeline
In November 2017 the Group announced a further two franchised
hotels (162 rooms) under development in The Hague, Scheveningen
Beach (which opened in March 2018) and Maastricht (scheduled to
open in the second half of 2018). In March 2018 the Group also
announced that it had signed an agreement for the development of a
146-room hotel in Malaga, Spain.
Other new franchise hotels currently under construction include
Lisbon (101 rooms), Bernkastel-Kues (100 room hotel), Belfast (81
rooms), Reading (54 rooms) and Bur Dubai (300 rooms) which are all
planned to open this calendar year.
The Group also has hotels under development in Istanbul (300
rooms), Iran (500 rooms) and Sri Lanka (200 rooms) beyond 2018
which will, on completion, enhance its position as the super budget
hotel brand of scale in the UK, Europe and Middle East.
Successful Placing of GBP50m
On 22 February 2018 the Group announced a placing of new
ordinary shares to raise GBP50m (before expenses). The proceeds of
the placing will primarily be used to fund the acceleration of the
Group's owned hotel development pipeline. Since completion of the
placing, the Group has already announced the acquisition of a
100-bedroom leased hotel in Cambridge and a 109-bedroom owned hotel
in Chester, its first two sites to be funded by the proceeds.
Commenting, Guy Parsons, CEO of easyHotel plc, said:
"easyHotel has traded strongly over the first half of the
financial year, outperforming the wider market in both our owned
and franchised hotels.
"We are mindful that consumers in the UK will continue to be
cautious, given the wider macro-economic and political uncertainty,
but believe our super budget offer positions us well, as consumers
become increasingly discerning and value conscious.
"We continue to make good progress with our growth strategy. The
Chester transaction marks our second investment following the
successful fundraising announced in February 2018, taking
easyHotel's pipeline of owned and leased development projects to
1,150 rooms, in addition to the 1,857 franchise rooms currently
under development.
"The proceeds from our successful fundraising will enable us to
accelerate our growth and take advantage of the significant
opportunities within our markets, creating shareholder value and
underpinning the long-term growth of the easyHotel brand."
Enquiries:
easyHotel plc
Guy Parsons, Chief Executive www.easyhotel.com
Officer
Marc Vieilledent, Chief Financial http://ir.easyhotel.com
Officer
Investec (Nominated Adviser
and Broker) +44 (0) 20 7597 5970
David Anderson
Houston PR (Financial PR) +44 (0) 20 3701 7660
Kate Hoare
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 seven owned hotels currently comprise 702 rooms, and
it has a further 20 franchised hotels with 1,728 rooms.
Owned hotels:
Old Street (London), Glasgow, Croydon, Birmingham, Manchester,
Liverpool, Newcastle*.
Franchise locations:
Belgium (Brussels), Bulgaria (Sofia), Germany (Berlin,
Frankfurt), Hungary (Budapest), The Netherlands (Amsterdam: City,
Arena & Zaandam, Rotterdam, The Hague, The Hague Scheveningen
Beach), Switzerland (Basel, Zurich), UAE (Dubai), United Kingdom
(Edinburgh, London Heathrow, Central London, Luton).
Hotel development pipeline
The Company's committed development pipeline of owned and
franchised hotels currently consists of:
Owned hotels:
United Kingdom (Ipswich, Sheffield, Leeds), Spain (Barcelona).
Subject to planning consent: United Kingdom (Milton Keynes,
Cardiff, Oxford*, Cambridge* and Chester).
Franchise hotels:
UAE (Dubai), Germany (Bernkastel-Kues), Portugal (Lisbon),
Turkey (Istanbul), UK (Belfast, Reading), Iran, Sri Lanka,
Netherlands (Maastricht), Spain (Malaga).
*Hotels under an operating lease.
[1] Total system sales is the full amount that the customer pays
for owned and franchised hotels, including initial sign-on fees
paid by franchisees to the Company
[2] The Croydon and Glasgow hotels were refurbished during the
period and the Old Street hotel operated with 92 rooms vs 162 rooms
for the same period last year. On this basis, the Group is unable
to report on a like for like Revpar basis.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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