Hotel Services Dec. quarter net down 139mn

7 February 2013 03:19 am Views - 2992

Hotel Services (Ceylon) PLC, the owners of Kingsbury Hotel, previously known as Ceylon Continental, posted a net loss of Rs.138.9 million for the three months ended December 31, 2012, as against a profit of Rs.13.2 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Whilst the Kingsbury Hotel was opened last month, refurbishment operations are still ongoing and will reportedly only be completed by March of this year.

Consequently, the company provisioned a loss of Rs.24.2 million to account for the derecognizing of property plant and equipment during the period in question.

The turnover generated during the quarter amounted to just Rs.31.7 million, a decrease of 83 percent year-on-year (YoY).

Meanwhile, administrative expenses increased by 31 percent YoY to Rs.94.6 million. However, marketing expenses reduced by a drastic 79 percent YoY to only Rs.4.42 million, likely reflecting the lack of marketing operations during the refurbishment of the property.

The company posted a loss per share of Rs.0.79, against earnings per share of Rs.0.08 in 2011.

Hayleys PLC holds the controlling interest in Hotel Services Ltd with a 37.93 percent stake in the company, followed by Carbotels (Pvt.) Ltd, which maintains a 13.07 percent stake in the company.

The Employees’ Provident Fund holds the third largest stake in Hotel Services, at 10.56 percent of issued share capital. (CF)