Hotel Leela net dips 23% in Dec quarter

Hotel Leelaventure, the city-based company which runs luxury hotels under its own name, today posted a 23 per cent drop in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, at Rs 22 crore as compared to Rs 28.9 crore posted in the same quarter a year before. Net sales rose to Rs 140 crore, growth of 11 per cent during the reporting period, as against Rs 126 crore posted in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

Vivek Nair, vice chairman and managing director, said in a statement that the revenue and earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation generated so far in the current financial year reflected the turnaround the hotel industry was witnessing.

The company is expecting its total inventory to rise from 1,608 to 2,197 guest rooms this year. Its newest properties include a hotel at Chanakyapuri in Delhi, with 260 guest rooms and suites, and a Chennai hotel with 329 guest rooms and suites.

The company’s board appointed Indur Kirpalani as an additional director (non-executive, independent) and has approved the re-appointment of Vivek Nair, Dinesh Nair, joint MD and Venu Krishnan, deputy MD, for five years.