EasyHotel reveals solid growth and a “pipeline” to increase brand presence
EasyHotel shares increased over one per cent as the "super budget" hotel brand announced the weak pound has created a strong market for inexpensive tourism in the UK.
The figures
Total system sales have increased 6.8 per cent to £21.3m from £20.0m in 2015, according to EasyHotel's final results for the year ended 30 September
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Profit before tax was up 38.4 per cent to £1.1m.
Of the company's owned hotels, like-for-like revenue grew 13 per cent, while the franchised hotels grew just one per cent.
Basic earnings per share increased to 1.4p from 1.0p.
Why it's interesting
EasyHotel currently has 1,527 new rooms in development, including 951 new franchise rooms and 576 rooms from five new owned hotel projects.
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Since the year-end results, the company has opened two new franchise hotels in Brussels and Amsterdam, signed a new franchise agreement in Reading and completed acquisition of hotel development in Barcelona.
EasyHotel owns three hotels with locations in London, Glasgow and Croydon with a combined 390 rooms and owns 19 franchised hotels around Europe with 1,643 rooms for a total of 2,033 rooms in both categories.
The budget chain said the weak, post-Brexit pound boosted tourism from abroad and staycations among Brits.
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Even the uncertainty in the market ahead of Brexit negotiations doesn't worry EasyHotel.
The company believes it will continue to outperform as consumers search for hotels offering the best value for money.
What EasyHotel said
Chief executive Guy Parsons said 2015/16 was a transformational year for the company, which is on track to deliver development plans announced in September.
The board remains confident that by exploiting the strength of the brand, EasyHotel will continue to outperform the budget hotel sector as consumers seek out the best value for money.
With the experienced team we now have in place and the proceeds of our recent fundraising, we are in an excellent position to expand the EasyHotel brand and deliver improving returns for our shareholders
What others said
Paul Hickman, analyst at Edison Investment Research reiterated the company's "transformational" year but warned of a the softening market.
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The real achievement has been creating a pipeline capable of making EasyHotel a more significant force in the market, Hickman said.
Consensus forecasts are for a near doubling of earnings per share for the year to September 2017, he said.