Indian Hotels Company narrows losses to Rs 5.21 cr in Q2

The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which owns the Taj brand of hotels, narrowed its consolidated net loss to Rs 5.21 crore during the quarter ended September, against a loss of Rs 57.67 crore in the year-ago period. 

Total income of the company grew by 13.53 per cent to Rs 981.15 crore, against Rs 864.18 crore in the same quarter of last fiscal, the firm said in a BSE filing Wednesday. 

The better numbers could be attributed to the one-time income from the sale of its Visakhapatnam property for an undisclosed sum. 

IHCL managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal described the quarterly performance as "momentous" as the company could retain the iconic Taj Mahal, New Delhi (Taj Mansingh) and renewed its long-term agreement for Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur.  

The hospitality group signed 15 new hotels this year resulting in a 90 per cent growth in pipeline over last year, the company said. 

"We have shown marked improvement across all financial parameters with a significant margin and EBITDA expansion for the second quarter as well as the half year," said Chhatwal. 

The company said its associate firm Oriental Hotels (OHL) sold The Gateway Hotel Beach Road Visakhapatnam, while retaining the management contract with IHCL, in line with its asset monetisation strategy. 

"The money generated from the sale is being used to reduce debt in OHL," it added. 

The company's scrip ended the day 0.31 per cent higher at Rs 130.75 apiece on the BSE, against a marginal 0.01 per cent drop in the benchmark.