With tourism boom, luxury hotels make dazzling profits

Most travel and leisure sector companies have shown impressive profit growth in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, as the tourism activities witnessed a boom after the end of the pandemic shock in the country.

Three out of the four companies of the sector, have so far released their financial reports for the July-March period, of which two companies displayed impressive financial performance.

The companies which belong to the Dhaka Stock Exchange’s (DSE) travel and leisure sector are—Sea pearl Beach Resort & spa Limited, Unique Hotel & Resorts PlC, The Peninsula Chittagong Limited, and Bangladesh Services Ltd.

Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa reported a stellar growth of over 517 per cent in its net profit in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

The company reported a net profit of Tk 80 crore in the July-March period of FY23, against the profit of Tk 12.95 crore in the same period last fiscal.

For the nine months ending in March 2023, the company’s earnings per share (EPS) was Tk 6.63, much higher than the EPS of Tk 1.07 for the same period last fiscal.

Meanwhile, the listed company registered over 794 per cent rise in net profit in the January-March quarter of the fiscal year 2022-23 on a year-on-year basis.

It posted Tk 37.7 crore in net profit in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2022-23, against the profit of Tk 4.2 crore in the same period last year.

The company’s EPS for the third quarter of FY23 rose to Tk 3.13, a significant increase from Tk 0.35 for the same quarter last year.

The company’s net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) also improved, with Tk 10.22 for the nine months ending in March 2023 compared to Tk 4.57 for the same period in the last fiscal.

Md Azaharul Mamun, company secretary of Sea Pearl Beach Resort told The Business Post that the ease of the pandemic situation and an effective revenue utilisation from room business played the pivotal role behind the stellar profit surge in the first three quarters of the current fiscal.

Besides, the full-fledged operation of the water park, cruise ship revenue, opening of a non-AC restaurant, also contributed to the earnings boost, Azaharul Mamun added.

The company recently launched a new line of business offering cruise ship tour packages on the Khulna-Sundarban-Khulna route, following an investment of Tk 8.5 crore in purchase of two cruise ships, according to a filing available on the DSE website.

Unique Hotel’s profit impressive

Unique Hotel and Resorts PLC, the owner company of The Westin Dhaka, posted an excellent surge in its profits in the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

The country’s leading hotel and hospitality management company reported Tk 163.6 crore in net profit in the July-March period of the current fiscal, which was nearly 70 per cent higher than the profit of Tk 96.2 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The listed company’s earnings per share (EPS) surged to Tk 5.56 at the end of the first three quarters from Tk 3.27 at the end of the corresponding period last fiscal, as per a filing available on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website.

Meanwhile, its EPS for the January-March quarter of the fiscal 2022-23 was Tk 4.04, up from Tk 3.00 for the same quarter last year.

The company’s earnings increased due mainly to its gains from the sale of ordinary shares in the subsidiary company – Unique Meghnaghat Power Limited, the listed company said in its latest financial statement.

The hotel and hospitality management company reported a net asset value (NAV) per share of Tk 89.03 as on March 31, 2023, compared to Tk 84.91 till June 30, 2022.

“With the ease of the pandemic situation, hotel and resort businesses were expected to rise. As a result, our earnings grew sharply in the first nine months of the current fiscal year,” Md Sharif Hasan, director (regulatory affairs) at Unique Hotel and Resorts told The Business Post.

Peninsula Chittagong suffers losses

The Peninsula Chittagong Limited suffered a loss of Tk 2.37 crore in the July-March period of the fiscal 2022-23, against a profit of Tk 8.54 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The company’s earnings per share (EPS) for the July-March period of FY23 dropped to Tk 0.20 negative from the EPS of Tk 0.72 for the same period last fiscal, as per a filing posted on the DSE website on Monday.

Its EPS for the January-March quarter of the current fiscal was Tk 0.05 against Tk 0.08 for the same quarter last fiscal.

Its net operating cash flow per share (NOCFPS) stood at Tk 0.22 negative for the July-March period of the current fiscal which was Tk 0.19 for the corresponding period last fiscal.

The EPS decreased due to an increase in cost of sales, import rate, selling and distribution expenses and a decrease in non-operating income, the company stated in its latest financial statement.