Peel Hotels sees half-year profits drop by 12%

Peel Hotels has seen half year operating profits drop by almost 12% as its hotels were hit by lower occupancy rates and falls in revenue per available room (revpar).

The company, which operates nine hotels across the UK, saw turnover for the 28 weeks to August 23 rising 5.5% to £7.19m, but suffered an 11.9% fall in operating profit to £483,355 (2008: £549,180). Revpar declined by 8.8% with occupancy down 8.9% and average room rate flat.

Poor trading at the Bull in Peterborough and the costs associated with the relaunch of The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Leeds, formerly called The Golden Lion, also combined to hit Peel’s results, the company said.

Peel, which added the Norfolk Royale Hotel in Bournemouth to its roster for £8.25m in June, said it was continuing to suffer from the drop in corporate spend, but added that occupancy levels had started to improve in the last eight weeks of the period.

Chairman Robert Peel said: “Our trading has improved over the last few months but it is difficult to determine if this is a gain in market share arising from the continued upgrading of our hotels or a stabilising market place.

“Our product has never been so good and whilst we are optimistic that our sales will actually grow on a like for like basis by the year end it remains to be seen if we can achieve revpar growth which will be key to the year end result.”

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By Daniel Thomas



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