Whitbread, owner of Premier Inn Hotels, plans to invest £ 350 million in new hotels and a major marketing campaign despite a record loss of more than £ 1 billion during the pandemic.
Total revenue through the end of February has declined 71 percent to £ 589.4 million since lockdowns began last March due to hotel closures and trade restrictions. In the UK, 92 percent of hotels are open, but only for important business trips, while 12 of the 30 German hotels remain closed as the country suffers from coronavirus again.
The Hospitality Group announced that due to a £ 348 million impairment on its German portfolio due to the removal of restrictions in Europe and its impact on Whitbread’s future growth on the continent, it resulted in a pre-tax legal loss of 1, £ 01 billion has been pushed.
Despite aiming to cut costs by £ 100m by 2024, Whitbread announced that it will be investing £ 350m this year in opening around 5,000 new rooms and the first major marketing campaign in three years involving British actor and comedian Lenny Henry will attend.
Managing Director Alison Brittain said the company will benefit from the speed of the UK vaccination campaign and will reopen all UK hotels and restaurants to leisure guests from May 17th.
“We expect a significant increase in leisure demand in our tourist locations in the summer, followed by a gradual recovery in business and event-driven leisure demand,” she said.
Whitbread benefited from £ 270 million in government funding, including the vacation program, it said. A rights issue of £ 1 billion in June and a green bond issue of £ 550 million in February increased the liquidity position to £ 1.26 billion.
Net debt, including lease liabilities, increased 11 percent to £ 3.28 billion.
