Tata Group's Indian Hotels Company reports profit of Rs 22 crore in Q1

Tata group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company on Monday reported a standalone net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 22.45 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2019.

"The company posted a net loss of Rs 16.75 crore in the year-ago period and profit of Rs 164.77 crore in March quarter," Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

Standalone revenue from operations increased to Rs 571.89 crore as against Rs 564.64 crore in the same quarter last year.

On the consolidated basis, the company, which owns and manages Taj Hotels, posted net profit of Rs 5.66 crore, while revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,020 crore. EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) stood at Rs 210 crore, while operating margins was 15.68 per cent, the highest for Q1 for the last 10 years.

Commenting on the performance, Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL, said, "Despite the macro-economic headwinds, we have stayed on track in delivering our promise as outlined in Aspiration 2022. The company reported a top line growth of 6 per cent and an EBITDA growth of 32 per cent."

During the quarter under review, the company continued its growth journey by signing 7 hotels with 1,267 rooms. It also opened 3 hotels in this quarter in key strategic markets like Goa and Agra, IHCL said in the exchange filing.

IHCL entered into a strategic partnership with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC for an investment platform to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore or USD 600 million during June quarter.

Aligned with its re-imagined brandscape, the company launched a new hotel brand with 12 hotels -"SeleQtions", which is a collection of named and distinctive hotels and relaunched Chambers, India's most iconic business club.

Giridhar Sanjeevi, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, IHCL said: "The company continued its efforts in monetization of non-core assets amounting to Rs. 35 crore in the quarter. We remain focused on debt management. Recently we have unwound historical swaps of Rs. 120 crore mitigating related forex volatility."

Ahead of Q1 earnings, shares of Indian Hotels Company closed trade at Rs 135, down 1.93 per cent, on the BSE on Monday.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: SBI share falls over 5% as brokerages cut price target post Q1 results