Indian Hotels suffers Rs 137-crore loss in FY10

MUMBAI: Indian Hotels Company (IHC), the Tata group firm that owns Taj hotels, has incurred a consolidated net loss of Rs 137 crore in 2009-10

compared to a net profit of Rs 12 crore a year ago, owing to slowdown in its domestic and international businesses. Net sales, during the period, declined 6% to Rs 2,457 crore.



The company has attributed the decline in income to partial closure of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, the Pierre in New York and the Vivanta Coral Reef in Maldives for renovation.



On a standalone basis, IHC has recorded a 34% drop in net profit at Rs 153 crore as total income declined by 9% to Rs 1,473 crore. Anil Goel, IHC CFO said, "We are not really looking at the number right now. We are concentrating on building up our business after having started the year with great difficulty. "



The company has improved in the last few months with occupancy rates picking up in key metro markets. Ajoy Mishra, senior vice-president and head of sales and marketing said, "Occupancy rates have come back to levels seen in 2007-08, but the room rates are still lagging."



The board proposed a dividend of Re 1 per share. The IHC stock lost 3% to close at Rs 98.85 in a strong Mumbai market on Wednesday. IHC has brought down its debt by Rs 700 crore to Rs 3,600 crore by retiring foreign currency debt through the proceeds of a debenture offer.
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