Starwood sees hotel space consolidation

Simon Turner

An edited version of this interview first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday, May 09, 2012.

Global hospitality company Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc currently has more than 7,500 rooms India and quality development pipeline of 5,000 rooms. Simon Turner, president - global development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc stressed that while the world as a whole and India within it is experiencing volatility, the hotel company’s strategy is to have a quality hotel development pipeline and not a pipedream. Edited excerpts...

What’s your take on the Indian hospitality market given that things are not really looking very good for the sector?
It is interesting to look at each year and how things have changed. From the overall Starwood perspective, we have been in India since 1973. So we have been in India for a long time and we will be in India for a long time. I think that our perspective on India is that we will stay focused on increasing our footprint. While the world as a whole and India within it will experience volatility, our goal is not to make outrageous growth claims.

Our approach is to have a quality hotel development pipeline and not a pipe-dream. India certainly is a fabulous place to be and is enormously exciting from a macro economic and demographic growth perspective. It is a challenging place to do business and you need to be able to function as a local in this market which is why we have such a strong local team which has been focusing purely on the Indian market.

There will be political and economic challenges in India, most of which will work out on its own. The country’s economic engine is unstoppable, the demographics, social change and the growth of the middle-class will continue.

You think consolidation is seeping into the Indian hospitality market especially with respect to project developments?
When we build hotels, these properties will be operational for the next over a couple of decades or more. I think that while one has to be concerned about the near term economic volatility of the world and in India, what also needs to be understood here is that our owners are investing in hotels for a long-term.

But there is a lot of concern with the developer community. Considering Starwood has a very significant pipeline, is the stress showing on your developments too?
Our development mantra is right properties, right places and right partners. When we look at deals in India the focus is on having the right partner. Associating with quality owners like the The Brigade Group, Oberoi Realty etc. play a crucial role in riding the market volatility cycles. I think what you’ll see happen is as a market gets more and more volatile, some of the most speculative or less experienced developers / owners will reconsider their plans and there may be some consolidation. While I’m confident our development partners will come through it fine they may be also be better positioned to take advantage of the market situation and obtain projects that are in the market.

We have been doing deals in India since 2005, signed 45-50 deals and had to terminate only one agreement because it didn’t happen and in our pipeline today there’s a couple of projects on hold so, out of all may be less than 5 hotels are either kind of on hold or didn’t happen. It is a very low attrition rate if you look at other companies. If you look at the quality of pipeline even today what people have signed, I think a lot of those deals don’t happen, for our competitors, where as ours, we’re are pretty selective and you know sometimes people think we are too selective but I think we really focus on picking the right partner. Hotel development is not 20-20 game but a 5-day test match.

So can we say that the 100 hotels target announced earlier in the year is pretty much on track?
Hundred is our goal in terms of opened or under construction hotels wherein 33 are already operational and another 22 are under construction. We will get to the India-100 aspiration and it is not a matter of if, it’s a when. What we’re doing is we’re spreading up our organisation and investing in the Starwood infrastructure in the form of having a call center in India that is primarily focusing only on our Indian hotels and largely the domestic traffic which is an enormously important part of that business.

Our Indian team would be be the largest in-country team when compared to teams of all the global hotel companies operating in India. What we want to be able to do for our owners is to provide them with the necessary level of support in advance of the hotel’s opening and it fundamentally means having people who know the Starwood systems, the hotels, know the owners, know all the customers in the market and it’s an overused phrase but I think one of the thing we pride ourselves on is we truly are a global company functioning locally.

Starwood is the only hotel company that is yet to take equity positions in India. What are the possibilities of it happening in the near future?
I don’t know the details of equity announcements made by other hotel groups. I think we as an industry sometimes tend to get over excited about making big announcements that eventually get splashed across the media. But if you go back a few years, there were a couple of very large announcements between global brands and local Indian investors saying we’ll do over 50 hotels and then a few years on the fizz just sort of goes away.

Running global brands, creating multilingual web pages, setting up a customer call centre, investing in infrastructure for over 100 people in the country and having a loyalty program that makes sure the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) clientele is loyal beyond reason is also an investment of a different kind. What we’ve focused on is doing a limited number of things really well. Having great distinctive 9 brands and making them as appealing as we possibly can to guests to costumers to owners is what we’re focusing on. Investing in technology to put heads in beds is enormous.

We think the property investment that our owners make is so specialised and requires such local knowledge that we don’t think that’s where we should be. Now, we also haven’t found it necessary to invest capital in the real estate in order to support our growth, because the property owners want to be able to harness what Starwood does best. I think we have the financial flexibility to be open to investing but it’s not something that’s a requirement for us to achieve our growth goals.

One of the things that we have found is the owners that we work with are well capitalised and one of the great things about capitalism is that if there’s and opportunity if all these rooms are a good investment, money will find its way to those rooms.

With new development control rules (DCR) in Mumbai, will it lead to changes for the upcoming W hotel in Mumbai?
There was a review which is now complete. We did not lose much because it was pretty much built around the parameter that they have. So the size of the hotel still remains the same. Certain areas, public areas might be cut back, but nothing major.

Are you considering a budget hotel brand given the excitement around that category of hotels in India?
We are not looking at that segment. Focusing on the existing 9 brands and doing whatever we can to make them as value added as possible to the owners is priority. We haven’t wandered into the budget space and if we ever decide to go in that direction, we will do it all for a great deal of thought and consideration and deliberation but at the moment, that’s not where we are.

How is your association with ITC progressing?
We have a long standing relationship with ITC. We have huge respect for them as an organisation and I think the way we look at our relationship with them, it’s a 1 plus 1 equals 3. I think we bring things to the table, they bring things to the table, and we’ve got such a long standing deep relationship between the 2 organizations that it’s an unusual relationship but it works. And I think one of those things we pride ourselves of as a company is being both pragmatic and flexible and I think again we hold them with such high regard that we figured out a way to make it work with both parties.

You had an association with Lavasa which was later terminated. Any plans to re-enter that location?
We didn’t have anything signed there. We were in discussions with Lavasa for Sheraton but that didn’t materialise. But yes, they have got good clients for leisure as well as education and for the right opportunity, why not.  At the moment, I think the upscale brands have gone in. There is a Fortune and a Novotel and I think there is a golf course opening up too besides other plans that are part of the master development. I think there will be a lot more interest from a lot more hotel companies.

Moser Solar's CDR plan gets bankers' nod

My colleague Neelasri Barman co-authored this story which appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

Moser Baer Solar (MBS), pioneer of solar power in India and a subsidiary of Moser Baer India, has received bankers’ in-principle approval for its proposed Rs 739 crore corporate debt restructuring (CDR).

In April 2012, MBS had approached the CDR Cell for the purpose.

MBS’s bankers — Punjab National Bank (PNB), State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda (BoB), IDBI Bank and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and a few other banks — met in Mumbai on Monday.

A public sector bank official who attended the meeting confirmed the approval.

Although it is a no-brainer that MBS is facing some sort of financial problems and hence unable to repay its existing debts, it is not clear why exactly the company needs CDR.

MBS officials declined comment. “We are in a silent period,” said an MBI spokesperson.

The banker, however, said CDR will encompass a Rs 500-crore term loan, working capital loans of Rs 230 crore and the remaining Rs 9 crore of dollar loans.

PNB’s exposure to MBS is to the tune of Rs200 crore, SBI’s Rs150 crore, IOB’s Rs130 crore and BoB’s Rs60 crore.

A few other banks account for the rest (Rs199 crore).

The approval will be followed by a new plan for repayment of MBS’s loans. The company will be relieved from interest payment. Repayment tenure will be also extended.

MBS last made news in January this year when it commissioned a 5mw solar power project in Rajasthan with a capacity of 92 lakh units of electricity per annum and saving carbon emissions equivalent to 8,400 tonnes annually.

The project, developed jointly with the ministry of new and renewable energy and spread over 60 acres of rocky terrain, is expected to power up over 70,000 households in Jodhpur.

The CDR Cell was formed in 2001 as both the Reserve Bank of India and the government felt the need for such an exclusive body to resolve cases of corporate financial sickness.

The cell maintains records of all CDR cases reported by banks and financial institutions.

CDR reduces debt burden on the company concerned by lowering interest rates and extending loan tenures.

Gaar delay gives PE firms time to comply

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

The government’s decision to defer General Anti-Avoidance Rules (Gaar) by a year will give private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) firms enough time to adapt to its provisions.

Industry players said the major concern for PE / VC fraternity (from the Gaar provisions) was from the commercial substance in the jurisdiction in which they were resident.

“Now they will have the time to establish that substance,” said Mahendra Swarup, president, India Venture Capital Association - an apex body of PE and VC firms in India.

The taxation part in Gaar, Swarup said, was also healthy as the regulator now says if any investment firm does get caught up in the Gaar non-compliance then the maximum tax that needs to be paid is 10% and not 20%.

“It is only from next year that the investors will have to pay 30% if they are non-compliant with Gaar. The zero-tax arrangement continues for all investments that are Gaar-compliant.”

“There is time available for investment firms to become GAAR compliant. There will be no impact on the funds’ inflow from the PE / VC community going forward.”

Stating that the PE / VC community was never against implementation of Gaar, Swarup said the way it was being implemented was disturbing as it took everyone by surprise.

“The government has assured that it will not be retrospective as long as the assessment is over which basically means no reopening of assessments,” he said.

Digital tariffs a dream, coo cable television networks

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday, May 3, 2012.

Cable and satellite (C&S) operators — and, yes, broadcasters, too — have lauded Monday’s tariff order and regulations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on digitisation of cable TV networks in the four metros.

The shift from analogue to digital mode, to be effective from July, is expected to bring some 500 TV channels each to 100 million homes in the metros by April 2013. Cable TV networks are now free to recover digitisation costs from broadcasters rather than consumers through ‘carriage fees’. Typically, carriage fees borne by broadcasters are estimated to be around Rs 4,000 crore annually.

Terming the new tariff regime progressive and a feather-light approach to regulation, industry players said it will increase transparency and pave the way for more investments in the sector. Broad consensus is that the new guidelines appear acceptable and would quicken digitisation of cable networks.

R C Venkateish, CEO of Dish TV, said, “It’s a win-win situation. The regulator has done an admirable job in balancing the interests of all the stakeholders.”

Broadcast industry sources said the Trai guidelines are consumer-friendly and will help everyone in the long run. “Cable operators and broadcasters should firm up commercial arrangements now and work aggressively towards achieving complete digitisation,” said a top official of a leading broadcaster.
 

C&S experts said digitisation would lead to a gradual increase in hitherto under-priced cable TV. Bijal Shah and Jaykumar Doshi, analysts at IIFL Institutional Equities, noted in a report that higher average revenue per user in the medium term should benefit both broadcasters and cable operators.

“This would also help direct-to-home (DTH) players raise package prices as the current low cable tariff is acting as a price cap. We expect broadcasters to be the early beneficiaries of digitisation followed by DTH and cable operators. We retain ‘buy’ on Zee and Dish TV,” wrote the IIFL duo.

According to ICICI Securities analysts Vikash Mantri, Satish Kothari and Akhil Kalluri, the Trai-stipulated 35% revenue sharing ratio for the local cable operator (LCO) is marginally higher than their expectation of 30%. “Besides, the ‘must carry’ provision (which could impact carriage fee) is marginally negative for multi-system operators (MSOs). However, the liberty to package bouquets and price channels will ensure an upper hand for MSOs in ensuring lower content costs.

“Also, while carriage fee has been legitimised, its application in a transparent, non-discriminatory and uniform manner, and creation of capacity of 500 channels, will ensure meaningful reduction in the same. We see the regulatory changes as a move to shift bargaining power in favour of broadcaster networks and large MSOs as market forces are allowed to hold their sway in most cases,” wrote the ICICI Securities researchers.

The new tariff regime empowers subscribers to choose channels on an a la carte basis, besides aiming to consolidate and regulate pricing of DTH and digital operators.

Independent, non-network channels are likely to benefit. New content would be broadcast based on demand. That is to say, bouquet or bunched-up offerings will be discouraged.

“However, we believe distributors will continue to sell bouquets innovatively to protect their own interests,” said Rahul Kundnani, research analyst (institutional equities, media & retail) at SBI Cap Securities.

Elite takes a shine to private film screenings

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Wednesday, May 2, 2012.

When Amitabh Bachchan watched ‘The Artist’ immediately after its release recently, he did not need to jostle with moviegoers or book an entire theatre to himself.

Instead, the film actor marveled at the silent masterpiece in the cosy confines of his home enjoying the digital picture and sound quality as he would have in a movie theatre.

The film was broadcast to his house through a new Club X service, under which a set up is installed at the home and one can watch a movie at his own convenience.

“The quality of projection is top rated, over the 700 grade, and a real joy to have the liberty of stopping and resuming film when desired. I watched a lovely film, ‘The Artist’, via the UFO set-up in the house and it was a delight to see a black and white, silent movie in February of 2012,” Bachchan blogged on February 25, a day before ‘The Artist’ picked up a fistful of Oscars.

While ‘first day first show’ is an achievement in itself for Indian movie buffs, the moneyed and the celebrities miss out as they don’t visit theatres for the fear of being mobbed by the moviegoers and have to watch the film later when almost everybody has enjoyed it.

“These people are rarely seen at a theatre. The main idea behind this (Club X) initiative is to try and get these people access to film content in the convenience of their house,” said Ameya Hete, executive director, Valuable Group, which is also the promoter of UFO Moviez, the world’s largest satellite networked digital cinema chain.

He is speaking about the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Sachin Tendulkar, industrialists like Harsh Goenka, Amit Burman and politicians such as Chhagan Bhujbal.

The Club X service, introduced in India in January last year, is purely by invitation and restricted to who’s who in the country. “The main pre-requisite for membership is a professional home theatre system at the member’s premises,” said Hete.

While these exclusive screenings bring an additional moolah to the producers, reports indicate there is a market of about 5,000 households which control 20% wealth in the country. “The service is mainly targeted to this set of high networth individuals. It is the only one of its kind concept globally and is currently only offered in India,” said Hete.

Club X installs professional-grade cinema equipment, which, priced at Rs2.5 lakh, is also 3D-ready.

The total cost of such a screening facility, however, depends on the seating capacity (15-25 people) and other infrastructure, varying from `30 lakh to several crores. The cost of screening is decided by the producers who extend the special invitations to Club X members.

The price per screening is decided by producers is `5,000-25,000, depending on the movie (how big the launch and time/week since release).

Hete said the revenues are at par with those earned from a single screening at a multiplex.

“Every new release since the launch of this concept has been screened using this service. The first day first show costs are higher and come down as weeks pass. Old films are priced in the lowest band,” said Hete.

While a significant percentage of the content available for screening is Indian movies, the company is looking to bring in Hollywood movies, too. It is also evaluating content like plays and opera.

The Club X membership has grown from about 30 a year ago to over 180 now.

The company is looking to extend this service to international markets mainly Middle East and Europe.

“The service will be made available in at least one overseas market this year,” said Hete.

Bajaj Corp in talks for a personal care buy

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

Bajaj Corp, part of the Shishir Bajaj group of companies, is in advanced stages of discussions with fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India and abroad for an acquisition.

Bajaj Corp has major hair care brands such as Bajaj Almond Drops, Bajaj Kailash Parbat and Bajaj Brahmi Amla in its portfolio.

“The acquisition will very likely be in the personal care space,” said a source familiar with the development, seeking anonymity. “The deal size could be any where between Rs 500-600 crore.”

Bajaj Corp officials refused to comment.

But the source said the company is targeting products that have the potential to be Rs 400-500 crore brands in the near future. “The products would have to be ones commanding gross margins upwards of 40-50%.”

Industry experts feel a good acquisition could set Bajaj Corp firmly on the growth path.

“A few large-ticket deals (Marico - Paras Pharma) have happened in the personal care space, thereby hiking the valuations and delaying the deal closure process. It will be interesting to see how the Bajaj Corp management goes about this acquisition,” said an FMCG sector analyst with a large domestic broking firm.

On the overall business front, Bajaj Corp sees no slowdown in the rural market despite the bad overall macroeconomic trend. The company, in fact, took an average price hike of 8.5% in March to compensate for the rise in input costs.

For the quarter ended March, it net sales were up 33.5% year on year at Rs 146 crore.

Net sales for the full year stood 31.66% higher at Rs 472 crore, with volume growth coming in around 21%.

“Towards the end of Q4’12, the company undertook an average price hike of 8.5% in its products in order to compensate the high input costs, i.e. LLP, glass bottles and vegetable oils. The input has seen a price rise of 25% year on year of late,” Sagarika Mukherjee, research analyst, Sbicap Securities wrote in a recent report.

The company also maintained that they it hasn’t seen any slowdown in the rural markets as opposed to the early indicators at the macro level. “The management is confident of the fact that it might see steady momentum in future as it entrenches deeper into the rural markets and increases penetration,” wrote Mukherjee.

Middle income group cuts spending by 65%: ASSOCHAM

High food inflation has forced Indian households in the middle and lower income groups to slash their spending on entertainment, shopping, vacations, electronics, automobiles, real estate and eating out by 65% in attempt to manage their monthly household budgets, said a recent survey by apex industry body The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

High interest rates and fuel costs also contributed the the middle income group (MIG) decision on curtailing their spends in the last 6 months. With food and education of children eat up most of their incomes, saving are likely to be impacted revealed the ASSOCHAM survey.

Conducted in a period of two months beginning March to April 2012 in major places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabd, Pune, Chandigarh, Dehradun etc, A little over 200 employees were chosen from each city on an average for the survey. 

"While the Indian national capital Delhi ranked first in curtailing their expenses, the Indian commercial capital Mumbai came second followed by Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai and Dehradun," said D S Rawat, secretary general ASSOCHAM.

The nationwide survey also ascertained that food inflation impacted the most consumers in metros and other major cities Vis-à-vis tier-III and semi-urban area due to sudden hike in the fruits, vegetables and milk prices. It added that the rise in inflation and per capita income was utterly disproportionate.

Around 55% of the survey respondents fall under the age bracket of 20-29 years, followed by 30-39 years (26%), 40-49 years (16%), 50-59 years (2%) and 60-65 years.

The survey targeted employees from 18 broad sectors, with maximum share contributed by employees from IT/ITes sector (17%) followed by financial services (11%), employees working in engineering and telecom sector (9% and 8% respectively). Nearly 6% of the employees belonged to market research/KPO and media background each while 5% each were management, FMCG and infrastructure sector employees. Respondents from power and real estate sector contributed 4% each. Employees from education and food & beverages sector provided a share of 3% each.

Consumers' growing unease is reflected in their saving rate and spending habits, with many middle income and lower income group indicating that they are finding ways to cut back spending now or indicating they will do so in the future. Around 69% of the respondents have cut down in their saving rate.

Nearly half of middle income group either avoid shopping altogether or shop only for those things that are absolutely needed. Moreover, 76% said that their shopping has been restricted to only necessities and splurge in their spending is totally occasional.

About 88% of respondent said that they have cut back on everyday expenses by avoiding outside food, car-pooling, cutting down on gas and use of electricity.

The survey also revealed that the high income groups, particularly the younger lot and working couples with twin salary benefits during every weekend spend more than 25% of their income on clothes, shoes, movies, buying CDs of films and music, eating out, etc.

The Chamber also estimates that inflation has also impacted the urban male and females personal expenses. The urban male used to spend Rs 500-2,000 per month on drinks, cigarettes, gutkha, pan etc. which has come down by 20% due to upward inflation. On the other side, urban women now spend around Rs 500-1000 per month on cosmetics, beauty treatments etc which was earlier Rs 1500-2,000.

Over 87% of the respondent said that monthly grocery bills have jumped to about Rs 7,000 to 8,000, compared to Rs 3,000 in the last two years. “Earlier they could buy a bag full of vegetables for Rs 100 but now, even Rs 1,000 isn't enough to sustain for a couple of days. The middle class and the lower class are the worst hit,” the report said.

One in four respondents said they will work towards increasing their income to stay financially afloat by switching to a better-paid job, taking a second job option or working overtime hours.

Commenting on the overall scenario and possible measures to be taken, Rawat said, “The government must look to manage its wasteful expenditure by enforcing austerity drive so as to reduce its borrowing from the markets which will ultimately have soothing effect on interest rate there by providing some relief on inflation.”

Nearly 78% of the respondent said that they have cut back on protein intake like eggs, have switched to a coarser rice that costs less, consumes less cooking oil, uses the less washing powder for utensils and for clothes and also stopped using the cosmetic things.

Eighty-six percent of the respondents said that they cannot predict their monthly household expenses for next month owing to unpredictable prices of not only commodities but also vegetables, fruits, milk, pulses and other household items.

Over 87% of vegetarians said that they face even more problems due to steep increase in prices of vegetables and fruits and worried of lower intake of vegetables and may affect health of their family. The survey also found that low-income groups (LIG) are increasingly cutting back on the nutrient-rich snacks because they can no longer afford them.

Rawat further said that all this leads to a spiralling effect as it becomes more difficult for poor people to improve their conditions and lead a life where they are not devoid of basic amenities.

Highlights of ASSOCHAM survey:

 - Average monthly expenditure has increased from Rs. 2,000 to Rs.6,000. More importantly, food expenditure as a percentage of monthly household expenditure has gone up from 40% to 100%.

 - Consumption of individual food items show a significant reduction as well, particularly in case of rice, wheat, yellow daal, onion, tomato, butter, milk, sugar and fruits and vegetables, the number of households consuming milk at least twice a day.

 - The growing food budget has invariably led households to cut costs in other areas such as healthcare and transportation.

 - Over 75% of the surveyed households now go to government hospitals or doctors instead of private doctors or hospitals.

 - 78% have decreased spending on eating out and rest preferred on occasions.

 - 65% decrease in the amount they spend on clothing.

 - 77% indicated fall in the amount they spend on vacations.

 - 49% have decreased the amount they spend on home appliances; 44% for home and personal electronics; 42% for automobiles; and 35% for real estate.