M&C enjoys Olympics pick-up

Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key metric in the hotel business, rose in the third quarter at Millennium & Copthorne (M&C), with London enjoying an Olympic boost.

M&C's revPAR in the third quarter improved 2.6% to £71.23 from £69.41 the year before. RevPAR in London was up 20.2% year-on-year, and also increased in the Rest of Europe (5.6%) and the US (1.5%), despite an 8.0% decline in New York. However, revPAR declined by 0.2% in Asia.

"The group delivered a satisfactory performance during the third quarter of 2012, despite challenging trading conditions and global economic uncertainty. London performed well during and after the Olympic and Paralympic games, and New York completed the renovation and refurbishment of the west tower of ONE UN on time," said Kwek Leng Beng, Chairman of M&C.

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Total revenue fell 21.1%, however, to £191.2m from £242.m the year before, but on a like-for-like basis, total revenue decreased by only 1.2% to £190.6m (2011: £193.0m). Hotels revenue slipped 3.9% to £187.7m from £195.4m in the third quarter of 2011.

Headline profit before tax virtually halved to £39.0m from £75.9m a year earlier, while the statutory profit before tax figure was 45.0% lower year-on-year at £38.1m.

Basic earnings per share retreated 48.4% to 9.5p from 18.4p the year before.

"We have yet to assess the full impact of Hurricane Sandy on our New York operations. We remain cautious in light of continuing economic uncertainty but the outlook for 2012 full year performance is in line with management expectations. Our strong balance sheet means that we are well positioned to continue developing our asset portfolio," the group Chairman declared.

JH