Dorsett Hospitality International says it remains “optimistic” about the future, despite seeing its profits fall 80% in the first half of the 2014-15 financial year.
The Hong Kong-based hotel group generated net profits of HK$65 million (US$8.4m) in the six months to 30 September 2014, down 80.3% year-on-year. This decline was largely caused by a 34.4% drop in revenue, to HK$714.6m, in the same period.
But Winnie Chiu, Dorsett’s president & executive director, said she believes the company is still heading in the right direction.
“Global economic uncertainties will continue affecting the travel industry in the near term. Despite these uncertainties, travel industry is expected to continue growing in the near term, driven by the increasing outbound travellers from the emerging markets, in particular the PRC, while in the medium term, on the back of the improving economic conditions, outbound travellers from the advanced economies are expected to return to positive growth,” MS Chiu said.
“Despite the challenges and uncertainties, the group remains optimistic in the global travel industry and our ‘Chinese Wallet’ strategy. The group is fully committed to our well defined and proven business model to develop, own and operate our hotels,” she added.
The positive news for Dorsett was that recurring revenue from the hotel operations reached HK$704.9m in H1, up 20.5% year-on-year, while revenue per available room (revPAR) also increased slightly, rising 0.4% to HK$563.
The group also recently made its debut in Europe, with the opening of the Dorsett Shepherds Bush in London. This takes the company’s total global portfolio to 21 operating hotels, with a further seven in the pipeline. Dorsett owns the majority of its hotels.
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