IHCL to take Orient-Exp call by March-end

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013.

Tata group’s hospitality business Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is likely to decide this month whether or not to go ahead with the friendly offer made to Orient-Express Hotels (OEH) last October.

The IHCL board will meet shortly to take a final call before the fiscal-end, said Anil P Goel, executive director-finance. IHCL, he said, had promised to revert after Oriental-Express rejected the initial offer. “Since an offer like this cannot be left open indefinitely, the IHCL board will now take a call.”

He said IHCL is also set to launch its 100th hotel in India sometime in March.
The company reported a 28.01% on-quarter increase in its standalone profit after tax at Rs64.62 crore for October-December. Net sales rose about 4.5% on-quarter to Rs544.55 crore.

“While the industry witnessed an overall de-growth of around 10%, we have been able to grow by 2%,” said Deepa Misra Harris, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at IHCL.

IHCL posted a consolidated profit of Rs47 crore in the December (or third) quarter. According to Raymond N Bickson, MD and CEO, the figure is more or less the same as that of the third quarter of the previous fiscal. 

“Our profit before tax in the third quarter was Rs106.13 crore versus Rs103.29 crore while profit after tax stood at Rs49.77 crore as against Rs49 crore in the third quarter of fiscal 2011-12. Overall, we have had a good third quarter and are looking forward to a stronger fourth quarter,” said Bickson.