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EasyHotel trading in line, considering long-term financing options
AIM-listed EasyHotel said on Monday that the strong trading seen in the previous year across owned and franchised hotel estates has continued, with the group's performance since the financial year ended 30 September 2017 in line with the board's expectations.
Owned hotels have continued to "significantly" outperform both their competitive set and the wider UK hotel market, with the opening of a new owned 78-room hotel in Liverpool and the acquisition and opening of a 104-room hotel in Newcastle in the period. EasyHotel said both hotels are trading in line with the strong performance of the hotels opened during the last financial year.
Meanwhile, franchised hotels have also continued to trade strongly, particularly in Continental Europe.
Chief executive officer Guy Parsons said: "We have been pleased with the group's performance to date in the new financial year, reflecting the growing strength of the EasyHotel brand. The like-for-like revenue growth trends across both our owned and franchised estates in the prior financial year have continued. Whilst we are very mindful of the wider UK macro-economic uncertainty and the impact this continues have on consumer confidence, we are encouraged by the strong outperformance of our hotels, both in the UK and overseas.
"EasyHotel has a committed pipeline of 941 owned rooms under development which will make a significant contribution to system sales, revenue and adjusted EBITDA going forward. The latest addition of Milton Keynes to our committed pipeline completes the deployment of funds from our 2016 equity fundraising and bank loan."
Parsons said the group is currently considering its long-term financing options, including raising new debt and equity capital, so that it can take advantage of "larger and more numerous" potential development opportunities than it had originally expected.
At 0930 GMT, the shares were up 4.6% to 114p.