Arcadian snaps up two more hotels
by Dominic Walsh
Arcadian International has acquired two provincial hotels for a total of £10.25m, taking its total number of owned or managed hotels to 15.
The biggest of the two is the 51-bedroom Haycock at Wansford, near Peterborough, which is being sold by Lawrence Hoskins of Poste Hotels. Arcadian is paying £6.4m.
Last year, the hotel produced a turnover of £3.17m and net operating profits of £636,000. It is said to have development potential for a leisure club and further bedrooms.
The other hotel that Arcadian is buying is the Mollington Banastre, near Chester, which has been run for the past 30 years by John Mawdsley, a founder of the Best Western Hotels consortium.
Arcadian is paying £3.85m for the 64-bedroom property, which last year made a net operating profit of £468,000 and a turnover of just over £2m. It has planning consent for a further 46 bedrooms.
The hotel's team, including Mr Mawdsley, who is managing director, and finance director David Jones, are all staying with the property.
The two deals, both of which were handled by William Hillary, are being funded through a £13.8m share placing and open offer. The balance will be invested across the group. Over the next few months, 12 bedrooms are being added to Brandshatch Place, Kent, eight to Nutfield Priory, Surrey, while Jersey's Hotel L'Horizon will see its food and beverage operations redeveloped. A £500,000 refurbishment at Ettington Park, Warwickshire, will take total spend on these projects to £4.5m.
At the Priest House Hotel at Castle Donington, Leicestershire, Arcadian is seeking permission to increase the number of bedrooms from 45 to 85, which will cost £3.5m-£4.5m.
"Following these acquisitions and the fund-raising, Arcadian is well placed to take advantage of a continuing improvement in the UK hotel market," said chief executive Robert Breare.
Although he has no plans to raise further equity funding, Mr Breare said existing resources should enable him to make "at most two further acquisitions" in Leeds and Edinburgh. He estimated pre-tax profits last year at "not less than £1m".
