IHCL Q3 net profit up 25 pc to Rs 213 cr

Tata group hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) on Friday reported a 25.37 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 213.17 crore for the quarter ended December 2019.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 170.03 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, IHCL said in a filing to BSE.

Consolidated total income rose to Rs 1,408.91 crore for the quarter under consideration as against Rs 1,337.97 crore for the same period a year ago.

"In line with Aspiration 2022, the company reported seven consecutive quarters of consistent and sustained growth," IHCL Managing Director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal said.

The re-imagined brandscape enabled IHCL to add a record 24 hotels to the development pipeline, he added.

The company signed 24 hotels with an inventory of over 2,800 keys in the current financial year. This includes four Taj hotels, two SeleQtions hotels, nine Vivanta hotels and nine Ginger hotels, IHCL said.

The company managed to reduce its debt levels further and reported a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.76, down from 2.11 (as of FY18/19), it added.

Incorporated by the founder of the Tata group, Jamsetji Tata, the company opened its first hotel -- The Taj Mahal Palace, in Bombay in 1903. IHCL has a portfolio of 197 hotels, including 40 under development globally across 4 continents, 12 countries and in over 100 locations.

Shares of IHCL closed at Rs 142.05 per scrip on BSE, up 0.89 per cent.