Earnings and revenue head south at Peel Hotels

18th Oct 2018 14:37

(Sharecast News) - Peel Hotels issued its interim results for the 28 weeks ended 12 August on Thursday, reporting a 6.4% decrease in sales to £8.1m, and a 63.4% fall in operating profit to £0.22m.The AIM-traded company said revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell 3.1%, with occupancy down 6.4%, though the average room rate grew 3.5% year-on-year.Profit before tax was off significantly at just £8,972, compared to £0.32m a year ago.Peel's net debt grew by £0.41m.Both basic and diluted earnings per share were 0.1p for the period, down from 1.8p a year ago."The comparative shortfall in EBITDA in the first three periods will be difficult to make up by the end of the financial year, however sales have now stabilised and for the first time in many periods increased in the current period, ended 7 October," said chairman Robert Peel."EBITDA is broadly neutral from a comparative point of view over the last three periods to 7 October."Peel said that, if the company can consistently achieve increases in sales, its profits would "quickly" return to growth."We have recently signed up a marketing agreement with Best Western Hotels and hope to derive additional sales benefit from this partnership going forward."