Lemon Tree Hotel Q4 net loss widens to Rs 27 cr

On a consolidated basis, Lemon Tree Hotels reported a net loss of Rs 26.72 crore in Q4 FY21, higher than net loss of Rs 19.02 crore reported in Q4 FY20.

Net sales tumbled 46% to Rs 95.1 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with Rs 176.13 crore in Q4 FY20. The company posted a pre-tax loss of Rs 40.9 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with pre-tax loss of Rs 13.5 crore in Q4 FY20.

EBITDA declined 52.7% to Rs 30.4 crore in Q4 FY21 compared with Rs 64.4 crore in Q4 FY20. EBITDA margin slipped to 31.4% in Q4 FY21 from 36.5% in Q4 FY20.

On a consolidated basis, the company reported a net loss of Rs 186.54 crore in the year ended March 2021 (FY21) higher than net loss of Rs 13.1 crore posted in the year ended March 2020 (FY20). Net sales tumbled 62.4% to Rs 251.72 crore in FY21 over FY20.

Commenting on the performance for Q4 FY21, Patanjali Keswani, chairman & MD of Lemon Tree Hotels said, "The quarter gone by, started on a steady note for us, with a sustained recovery in markets and sequential improvement in consumption on the leisure front. Additionally, we saw improved demand coming in for weddings, staycations, and social events during the fourth quarter. Accordingly, our operating inventory increased from 91.2% of our total inventory in Q3 FY21 to 93.4% in Q4 FY21. Our occupancy on full inventory improved from 42.4% in Q3 FY21 to 56% in Q4 FY21. Total revenues from operations increased 39.1%QoQ to Rs 95.1 crore in Q4 FY21. From an operating model perspective, there has been a concerted focus on cost management across verticals. We now operate a much leaner model backed by sustained cost-optimization measures."

He added, "Gross debt at the end of FY21 stood at Rs 1,685 crore and after adjusting for about Rs 141 crore cash, our net debt was Rs 1544 crore or about 0.50% more than the net debt at the end of FY20. During this 12-month period, ie. end FY20 to end FY21, we also successfully lowered our average cost of borrowings by 130bps from 9.6% to 8.3%. and we are hopeful this will further reduce in this/coming quarters. In the face of adversity, we believe we have emerged stronger with a learning curve that has empowered us to be more resilient and cost-effective in our business approach. During the quarter, we have expanded our managed hotels vertical through new launches in the domestic market such as Bhubaneswar, Aligarh and Vijayawada. I am also pleased to share that we have signed a License Agreement for an upcoming hotel at Biratnagar. This hotel will be our third property in Nepal. All these hotels are strategically located at famous tourist spots and are in sync with our strategy to go asset-light through the managed hotels vertical by leveraging our strong brand in the industry. While we saw sustained momentum in demand and consumer sentiments in the quarter gone by, the environment has evolved now with the second wave of the pandemic. We have recently joined hands with the Government and hospitals by converting some of our hotels as quarantine facilities. Lemon Tree has allocated around 6 hotels to various hospitals in Gurugram, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad for mild Covid patients. We believe we are better prepared this time and already have all the protocols in place to handle the impact to a certain extent. We expect the demand environment to stabilize sooner than later. This should help drive a gradual and sustainable uptick in performance for Lemon Tree going forward."

Lemon Tree Hotels (LTH) is the largest mid-priced hotel sector chain, and the third largest overall, on the basis of controlling interest in owned and leased rooms, as of 30 June 2017, according to the Horwath Report. LTH operates in the mid-market sector, consisting of the upscale, upper midscale, midscale and economy hotel segments and seeks to cater to Indian middle-class guests and deliver differentiated yet superior service offerings, with a value-for-money proposition.

Shares of Lemon Tree were down 0.12% at Rs 42 on BSE.

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