SET-listed Central Plaza Hotel (Centel) said fourth-quarter net profit rose 8.9% year-on-year to 481 million baht, despite lower Chinese tourist numbers and a slowdown in domestic consumption.
The company's fourth-quarter revenue increased 3.6% year-on-year to 5.51 billion baht, while ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was 1.199 billion baht, a 2.1% increase.
Centel's hotel business had total revenue of 2.46 billion baht, an increase of 0.5% year-on-year with ebitda of 841 million baht, an increase of 2% year-on-year.
Ebitda margin increased to 34.1% (compared with 33.6% in the fourth quarter of 2017), mainly as a result of the operating performance of the Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld and growth in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.
For the food business, total revenue was 3.05 billion baht, an increase of 6.3% year-on-year, driven by the addition of 67 quick service restaurants.
Total systems sales growth was 6.5%, while same-store sales decreased by 1.7%, due to the operating results of Mister Donut and Auntie Anne's.
Ebitda margin decreased slightly to 11.8% (compared with 12.2% from the same period in 2017), likely due to the launch of a promotional menu with higher cost of sales and increased raw materials and logistics costs.
For 2018, Centel achieved total revenue of 21.77 billion baht, an increase of 7% year-on-year, with ebitda of 4.96 billion baht, a gain of 5.6%. This was because of continued growth in both the hotel and food segments.
Net profit was 2.17 billion baht, a 9.4% year-on-year increase.
Centel expressed confidence that the operating results for both the hotel and food business would continue to increase in 2019.
The hotel occupancy rate is expected to be 83-85%, while the revenue per available room (RevPar) is expected to increase 4-6% when compared with 2018.
Total revenue for the hotel business is expected to increase by 2-3% year-on-year, lower than the estimated increase in RevPar, because of the closure for renovation of Centara Grand Beach Resort Samui for a year starting this June.
