Menzies to move focus upmarket
Menzies Hotels plans to offload four of its smaller, less profitable provincial hotels to focus on larger three-star and four-star properties. Their sale, through Christie &Co, will leave Menzies with 17 hotels.
The four earmarked for sale include Menzies' first two premises, the Lion Hotel in Belper, Derbyshire, and the New England Hotel in Boston, Lincolnshire. Also to go are the Beaufort Hotel in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and the Durlston Court Hotel in Bournemouth.
Chief executive Nick Menzies said he now wanted to buy hotels with 50 bedrooms or more. The group was among the bidders for the 30 Thistle properties recently sold to Peel Hotels.
The four Menzies hotels for sale contributed a little more than 5% to the group's operating profits, which soared by 44% to £2.3m in the six months to July 1998, on turnover 36% ahead at £10.9m. Room yields grew by 16% to £26.74, with occupancy at 61% and a net average room rate of £45.33.
The company is forecasting a 38% boost in annual profits to £5.4m, with turnover up by 28% to £23.9m.
