The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), the largest hospitality chain in South Asia that runs the Taj and Vivanta brands of hotels, today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 9.1 crore for June quarter, against a net loss of Rs 28.44 crore a year ago, boosted by a rise in margins and revenue.
However, on a standalone basis, the company reported a net loss of Rs 16.75 crore, compared with a net profit of Rs 7.66 crore a year ago, despite a marginal rise in revenue and a massive improvement in margin which rose 183 bps.
For the reporting quarter, the Tata group company reported a rise in consolidated income at Rs 979.7 crore, against Rs 911.16 crore in the year-ago quarter. On a standalone basis, the same rose 8.23 per cent to Rs 579.67 as per IndAS accounting norms, according to an exchange filing.
IHCL managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal blamed the poor set of standalone numbers to a Rs 50.17-crore forex loss in the quarter, against a gain of Rs 15.76 crore in the year-ago period, coupled with provisions for impairment of investment in a subsidiary that incurred loss of Rs 1 crore, against Rs 5.44 crore profit a year ago.
Chhatwal further said demand continues to outpace supply and IHCL saw an increase in revenue per average room by about 6 per cent even in a lean season.
"I am delighted with the over 8 per cent growth in revenue and improvement in operational margin of 183 bps. During the quarter, we signed six new hotels with an inventory of around 800 rooms across all our brands in key locations in the country and overseas," he said.
Giridhar Sanjeevi, chief financial officer, IHCL, said, "We are progressively executing the strategic plan in driving profitable growth. We delivered a net income of Rs 9.1 crore, marking the third consecutive quarter of achieving positive results on a consolidated basis."
In a separate statement, the company said it has signed a new Vivanta hotel at the London Heathrow airport and has won the bid for The Connaught hotel in the heart of the national capital.
It also informed the exchanges that the board appointed Venu Srinivasan, chairman of Sundaram-Ciayton and TVS Motor, and Mehernosh Kapadia as non-executive directors of the company with immediate effect.
While Srinivasan is already a director on the board of Tata Sons, Kapadia joined IHCL in 1977 and has served the Taj group in a variety of managerial positions since then. He is also the chairman of Taj Air and a director on Taj SATS Air Catering, Tata Realty & Infrastructure and Ewart Investments.
Sanjeevi said the Heathrow property will be a 108-key hotel, located across from the terminals 1, 2 & 3, while The Connaught is an 85-room hotel in the heart of New Delhi.
That apart, it has also signed the first hotel in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, which will be a Taj branded hotel and is scheduled to open in January 2023, with around 340 rooms.
The other signings include a Taj hotel in Lonavala, a Vivanta hotel in Katra in J&K and two Ginger hotels in Jhansi and Visakhapatnam respectively.
The company also announced a major expansion of Taj Bangalore located across the international airport with an addition of 220 rooms, taking the total to 374 rooms.
Its London property, St. James' Court, which is a Taj hotel, has been re-launched after a renovation of its Almoners Townhouse.
The IHCL counter plunged 3 per cent to Rs 123.90 on the BSE today, against a 0.41 per cent correction in the benchmark Sensex.
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