Dalata Hotel Group has released results for the year ended 31 December 2016 which shows that the hotel operator's revenue increased by 28.8 per cent to €290.6 million and pre-tax profits grew by 55 per cent to €44.1 million, describing the Dublin hotel market as performing "very strongly in 2016".
The results show that Dalata currently has over 1,200 new rooms in the development pipeline; four hotels are under construction in Dublin, Belfast and Newcastle as well as a fifth in the planning stage in Cork; has extensions planned in four Irish hotels; and is creating 500 jobs across Ireland and the UK.
Dalata's adjusted ebitda increased by 35.9 per cent to €85.1 million and its RevPar rose by 14.9 per cent to €80.20, while its Dublin hotels outperformed the market with a RevPAR growth of 19.9 per cent versus the city's 16.1 per cent.
Other highlights show that a total of €150.9 million was invested in portfolio expansion in 2016, which saw the addition of seven hotels and around 1,600 rooms to its owned and leased portfolio. There was €25.4 million invested in hotel redevelopment and refurbishment of existing hotels during the year, including the refurbishment of 748 bedrooms, and the rebranding of four hotels to Clayton was completed in the last two months of the year.
Dalata commented that trading has been marginally ahead of its expectations for the first two months of 2017 and that RevPAR growth in its London, Northern Ireland and provincial UK properties has been stronger than anticipated, adding that "our focus is to build on our existing UK portfolio in 2017".
Pat McCann, Dalata Group CEO, said: "Beyond building a stronger portfolio, 2016 was a year in which we demonstrated our ability to drive improved performance from our existing hotel portfolio where we delivered improvements against all key performance indicators. The Clayton and Maldron brands are now the two largest hotel brands in Ireland. The brands are now of a scale in Ireland that presents us with opportunities to significantly increase consumer awareness and to engage directly with more of our customers.
"The Dublin hotel market continued to perform very strongly in 2016. There does finally appear to be some additional supply coming into the market from the second half of 2018 but I believe that demand in the city will comfortably absorb new capacity. The regional Ireland hotels also continued to perform very strongly for us and, with a minimal amount of new supply in the pipeline, we believe that the outlook for Cork, Limerick and Galway remains very positive.
"I am already looking forward with enthusiasm to what we can achieve in 2017. We will continue to focus on improving returns from our current portfolio. We also intend to expand our hotel portfolio, particularly in the UK, seeking new or existing hotel opportunities which match our investment criteria.”
