Activities

Park Plaza Hotels is a Netherlands-based company that owns, co-owns, leases, franchises and manages a collection of four-star hotels (both full-service deluxe and boutique hotels) across Europe, the Middle East and Africa under two brand names.

It holds the master franchise for the Park Plaza Hotels and Resorts brand name (under licence from Carlson Hotels Worldwide) in 56 countries. Sited in the heart of business and tourist centres, the hotels typically have between 150 and 500 bedrooms.

Its own art’otel brand is a boutique brand of individually-themed hotels each based on an artist (such as Andy Warhol in Berlin) connected with their location. Located near main shopping streets or tourist attractions, art’otels have between 100 and 200 bedrooms.

The group started off as a combination of the hotel management and operating interest of the Park Plaza Hotels Europe and some hotel assets of the Red Sea Group. Members of both Israel-based groups remain its biggest shareholders following its flotation on the London AIM market in 2007.

The company also manages the luxury, all-suite Plaza on the River Club and Residence in London.

Timeline

• 1989: The Red Sea Group acquires the Mandarin Park Plaza in the Netherlands, which is managed by its long-term partner Park Plaza Hotels Europe.
• 1994: The group acquires the rights to use the Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand in the Benelux countries, the UK and Israel.
• 1995: Park Plaza Hotels agrees a brand, marketing and reservation agreement with Park Plaza Worldwide.
• 1999: The group opens its first UK property, the Shaw Park Plaza in central London.
• 2000: Park Plaza Hotels Europe acquires the master franchise for the brand from Park Plaza Worldwide for a further 51 countries following the acquisition of the name by Carlson and Olympus Hospitality Group. Carlson subsequently buys out Olympus' share in September 2003.
• 2000: The group announces a £300m-plus investment in the UK and opens its first three boutique art’otels in Europe.
• 2001: Park Plaza opens the Victoria Park Plaza and Sherlock Holmes hotels in London.
• Spring 2002: The £15m new-build Park Plaza Nottingham opens, followed in March 2003 with the group’s first Chino Latino restaurant and bar, which mixes pan-Asian cuisines and Latin cocktails.
• January 2003: Accor takes over the management of the Bernard Shaw Park Plaza in London, which becomes a Novotel.
• 2003: The group’s first franchise offering, the Park Plaza Trier in Germany, opens. In the UK, the Park Plaza Leeds is launched. 2004: The group agrees territorial licence agreements covering Ireland and Scandinavia. It opens the franchised Park Plaza Belfast hotel, its first in Ireland.
• 2005: Park Plaza Hotels opens the Riverbank Park Plaza London, one of the biggest hotels to open in the capital in 30 years; its first all-suite luxury apart-hotel, the Plaza on the River Club and Residence in London; and the franchised Park Plaza Cardiff.
• 2006: The group restructures its development team as part of its plan to add 60 hotels to its portfolio within 3 years and starts to rebrand its hotels to bring the Park Plaza name to the forefront.
• October 2006: The group opens the franchised Park Plaza Tyrrelstown in Dublin, the £2m Laguna Health and Spa in the Park Plaza Cardiff, and announces a £195m refinancing of its three London hotels.
• 2007: Park Plaza Hotels grants Canada-based hospitality management firm Global V Hospitality the rights to use the Park Plaza name in Morocco, Egypt and the Gulf States.
• July 2007: The company floats on London’s AIM stock market in a listing that values the company at £270m. It raises £85m through the listing.
• December 2007: Park Plaza Hotels signs two franchise agreements Global V Hospitality to operate a new-build Park Plaza in Qatar (which opens in April 2008) and for a Park Plaza and art’otel in Morocco, which are due to open in mid-2009 respectively.
• February 2008: The group acquires full ownership of the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge apart-hotel which is due to open in 2010 to become of London’s largest hotels with 1,037 apartments and conference facilities for 1,000 or more delegates.
• February 2008: The Park Plaza County Hall, the group’s second apart-hotel, opens in London.
• March 2008: The company announces a joint venture with the Reuben Brothers’ Aldersgate Investments to develop the UK’s first art’otel in Hoxton, London, which it hopes to open in 2012.

Financial snapshot

Full year

Turnover: €97m (2006: €88,2m)
Ebitda: €28.4m (2006: €22.8m)
Pre-tax profit: €22.1m (2006: -€4.7m)

Half year

Turnover: €46.7m (2006: €40.4m)
Ebitda: €12m (2006: €10.8m)

Financial year end: 31 December 2007
Half-year end: 30 June 2007

Operating data

Full-year results to 31 December 2007
Occupancy: 82.4% (2006: 80.7%)
Average room rate: €118.80 (2006: €115.10)
Revpar: €97.10 (2006: €91.60)

UK hotels, full-year figures to 31 December 2007
Occupancy: 84.8% (2006: 80.9%)
Average room rate: €173.60 (2006: €161.90)
Revpar: €144.60 (2006: €127.30)
Turnover: €37.7 (2006: €34.1m)
Ebitda: €12.7m (2006:€10.5m)

Number of hotels: 26 with 4,700 bedrooms (in Belgium, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Israel, Qatar, the UK, and the Republic of Ireland)

Number of artotels: 6 (in Germany and Hungary)
Franchised hotels:  Cardiff, Berlin, Trier, Belfast, Dublin, and Tel Aviv. Territorial franchise agreements are in place for Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Egypt and the Gulf States.

UK and Ireland hotels
London: Park Plaza Victoria, Park Plaza Riverbank, Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes, Park Plaza County Hall
Outside London: Nottingham, Leeds, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin

Strategy

"We are extremely pleased to report such good progress during 2007, both with regards to our successful admission to AIM in July and the performance of our hotels and management operations. 

In addition to ongoing refurbishments in our current estate, the funds raised will support our goal of doubling the number of rooms in our portfolio to over 8,000 by 2010.”

Source: Preliminary annual results, 27 March 2008

Chief executive

Boris Ivesha

Key directors

Chairman: Eli Papouchado
Chief financial officer: Chen Moravsky
Chief development officer: Micha Polak
Chief operations officer: Erik van Kessel

Contact

12 David Mews
London
W1U 6EG

Tel: 020 7034 4800
Fax: 020 7034 4819

E-mail: info@parkplazahotels.co.uk
Website: http://www.parkplazahotels.net

Commentary

The group aims to become a leading hotel owner/operator in the mid to upscale sector in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and intends to have more than 8,000 bedrooms by 2010.

In July 2007, the group announced that it would open another four hotels by the end of 2010 to take its total bedroom tally to 6,000.

It has also signed franchise deals for another 12 hotels in Ireland, North Africa and the Gulf, which would add another 2,210 rooms to its portfolio.

Hotels in the pipeline include:

• Park Plaza and art’otel Marrakech, Morocco  (mid-2009)
• art’otel Cologne (2009)
• Park Plaza Westminster Bridge (2010)
• art’otel, Hoxton, London (2012)
• Park Plaza in Nuremberg