Tata-owned IHCL reports best quarter yet
3 min read . Updated: 31 Jan 2023, 09:04 PM IST
Premium- On a standalone basis, the profit after tax was Rs283.18 crore versus Rs124.09 crore in the corresponding quarter
In its best quarter yet, Indian Hotels Company Limited -- the company that runs hotel brands like Taj, Vivanta and SeleQtions, said it has achieved profit after tax of ₹383 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal, which is more than the entire profit it made from the four quarters in the covid disrupted FY22.
The company said it had its best ever EBITDA of ₹655 crore, which has gone up 90% on a year-on-year basis. The margin of EBITDA was 37.6%, up 719 basis points. Its revenue from operations for the quarter stood at ₹1685.80 crore as compared to the corresponding quarter ₹1111.12 crore in FY22, it said in its filings to the stock exchanges.
On a standalone basis, the profit after tax was ₹283.18 crore versus ₹124.09 crore in the corresponding quarter. The standalone revenue grew from ₹740.87 crore in FY22 to ₹1061.56 crore in this quarter of FY23.
"We had a profit of 354 crore in FY20. I am very bullish on the sector. The G20, India hosting the cricket World Cup this year will give us good business. We are currently also not benefitting from inbound travellers. While the domestic demand has been strong post covid, we would still like to see a healthy mix of both domestic and inbound travel," said the company's managing director & CEO, Puneet Chhatwal,
He said that the company adding more management contracts will add to the business and that the company also is expecting a recovery in its London, New York and Cape Town hotel performances -- assets that the company owns and leases in some cases.
The company intends to add about 18 hotels a year, at a portfolio level. "Unfortunately covid delayed us by six quarters or so. But these margins are industry leading for us.
At present, the company has about 48% managed hotels and about 52% owned or leased. "We are in striking distance to achieve a balance between our owned and managed hotels," Chhatwal told Mint.
The company is looking at about 46% of the total business revenue coming from food and beverage related services and this quarter has seen a disproportionately high amount of business coming from F&B on the back of events and weddings.
On the other hand, it saw an increase of 27% in room revenue this quarter versus the corresponding quarter in FY20. Both its resort and business hotels saw about 70% occupancy. It has about 22,000 rooms in operations. It has about 250 hotels across the board. 95 of those are under the Taj brand, another 85 in its budget brand Ginger and the rest is divided between the Vivanta and SeleQtions. The Taj brand, though, accounts for 70% of its revenue.
Chhatwal added: "2023 will be a very strong year for us. There is a certain change in the Indian consumer behaviour. The 'business + leisure' or Bleisure segment has happened now. Today many more people are taking these holidays."
The company, under its homestay brand -- amã Stays & Trails -- has about 108 bungalows. This figure is up from 75 in March 2022.
According to hospitality consultancy Hotelivate, in its last Trends & Opportunities report that it put out last year, it said that IHCL was the second largest player in the country in terms of room inventory of about 18,000 rooms as of July 2022, following closely in the heels of Marriott International which had about 22,000 rooms. In terms of the top ten hotel brands by percentage share of existing inventory in India, Marriott topped the list with 14.26% owned by them and IHCL followed in its heels at 11.57%.
“The report added that IHCL had a higher number of hotels in the country than competitor Marriott International."
