IHCL will remain India’s No. 1 hotel company, says CEO

With most new hotels being built on asset-light models, they will deliver high margins, he added.

“Next financial year, we will have almost two new hotels per year and 25 (new hotels) in total,” Chhatwal said in a call to announce the December quarter results on Thursday. “While in January we also crossed the 200 operational hotel mark, by December, we will have 200 hotels in India alone.” Currently, IHCL has 186 operational hotels in India.

IHCL posted a consolidated net profit of ₹452 crore in the quarter, an 18% jump on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis. Consolidated revenues, at ₹2,000 crore, were up 15% y-o-y. Consolidated Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) rose 18% to ₹772 crore, while Ebitda margin expanded by 100 basis points to 38.5% y-o-y.

On Friday, shares of IHCL were trading 1.7% higher at ₹502.80 on the BSE following the positive earnings.

“We are very proud with an all-time high, record financial performance for the seventh consecutive quarter. We are on track with our guidance of Ahvaan 2025, which is a portfolio of 300 hotels, 33% Ebitda margin with 35% Ebitda share from new businesses and management fees by FY2025-26,” Chhatwal said. “Our market cap has crossed ₹70,000 crore, we have zero debt and a robust pipeline of 85 hotels. We are and will remain the number one hospitality company in the country.”

In May 2022, IHCL announced Ahvaan 2025, its three-pronged strategy to grow profitably in the coming years.

The results were declared on the same day that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made her interim budget speech, where she announced the government’s focus on developing new tourist destinations, boosting domestic tourism, and promoting spiritual tourism. In that context, Chhatwal said that IHCL already has 65 properties in more than 50 spiritual destinations in India, including Banaras, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Amritsar and Ajmer. It has already signed three hotels, with 400 rooms. The first hotel will come up next year. 

IHCL’s new business vertical comprising Ginger, Qmin, amã Stays & Trails, The Chambers (membership fee) and TajSATS reported a revenue of ₹420 crore in Q3, registering a 33% jump over the previous year. In comparison, its enterprise revenue grew 17%. The company disclosed that new business now accounts for 11.1% share of the enterprise revenue, an expansion of 130 bps from 9.8% in the previous year. Enterprise revenue includes revenue across owned and managed businesses.

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Published: 02 Feb 2024, 11:44 AM IST