Indian Hotels soars 6% as it logs highest margin in 10 yrs for Sept quarter

Shares of Indian Hotels Company soared 6 per cent to Rs 156 on the BSE on Wednesday after the company reported EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) margin improvement of 590 basis points (bps) at 17.7 per cent in September quarter (Q2FY20). EBITDA jumped 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 182 crore during the quarter. Both absolute EBITDA and EBITDA margin was highest in the last 10 years. 

The Tata Group company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 71 crore during the quarter, against a net loss of Rs 5 crore in a year-ago period. Revenue grew 4.9 per cent to Rs 1,029 crore on YoY basis.

Indian Hotels signed a record 14 hotels without any investment, across all its brands. The company opened four new hotels in the first half of the year – Taj Hotel & Convention Centre, Agra; Cidade de Goa; Ginger Dwarka and Ginger Sanand.

Analysts believe Indian Hotels will continue to outperform the industry growth rate and has a handful of new contracts signed, which will support future earnings growth of the company.

“We like Indian Hotels in the domestic hospitality space considering its diverse portfolio offerings across key cities in the domestic market, robust expansion plans, strategic partnership with GIC for premium operational hotels acquisition and focus to improve operating margin and balance sheet health,” analysts at IDBI Capital said in a result review. The brokerage firm maintains ‘buy’ rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 190 per share.

At 10:17 am, the stock was up 6 per cent at Rs 155, as compared to a 0.11 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 1.6 million shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE. The stock was trading close to its 52-week high level of Rs 164, touched on June 26, 2019.