EasyHotel plc, the owner, developer and operator of 'super budget' hotels, has today issued a trading update for the financial year ended 30 September 2017, which shows total system sales were up by 39% to £29.7m (30 September 2016: £21.3m).
During the period, like-for-like revenue for owned hotels increased by 13.7% and for franchised hotels by 8.6%.
Five new hotels totalling 535 rooms were opened during the financial year - Birmingham and Manchester owned hotels and Brussels, Amsterdam Arena and Amsterdam Zaandam franchised hotels. All five hotels have been developed in the firm's new brand format and have traded exceptionally strongly since opening.
EasyHotel now plans to refurbish its Old Street, Glasgow and Croydon hotels of which Glasgow and Croydon will be completed during Winter 2017/2018 to reject the new product look and feel.
The new 78 bedroom easyHotel Liverpool is expected to open in November 2017. New hotel projects are currently under construction in Ipswich (89 rooms), Barcelona (204 rooms), Leeds (93 rooms) and Sheffield (131 rooms). All four hotels are anticipated to open during 2018.
On 21 June 2017, the group signed a 25-year lease for the development of a new, purpose-built easyHotel in Oxford (180 rooms). The hotel is anticipatedto open in the second half of the 2019 calendar year.
Following the successful £38m (gross) equity placing in October 2016, and the £12m refinancing of an existing bank facility, easyHotel's balance sheet remains strong with capacity to finance up to three additional new projects from the identified owned hotel development pipeline.
The company has a further 2,569 owned rooms under negotiation, of which 1,223 have Board approval.
New franchised hotel projects are currently under construction in Reading (54 rooms), Belfast (81 rooms), Lisbon (101 rooms), Bernkastel- Kues (100 rooms), and Dubai (300 rooms) and are anticipated to open over the course of 2018.
Guy Parsons, Chief Executive Officer of easyHotel plc, (pictured) said, 'It has been a year of accelerated growth for the Group, endorsing our strategy of offering comfortable, affordable accommodation in key tourist and business locations in the UK and internationally.
'The strong like-for-like performance of both our owned and franchised hotels and their continued outperformance against the market is very encouraging. We are particularly pleased by the performance of our newly opened hotels, designed in our stylish new brand format, which are proving popular with our customers and trading ahead of expectations.
'Our network, including pipeline hotels, has increased by more than 1,100 rooms, or 32%, during the financial year, with 2,270 rooms now open (25 hotels), and a committed pipeline of 2,400 rooms. The Board is confident that we are very well positioned to continue expanding into the near future.'