PPHE reports 5% rise in revenue to £342m driven by London hotels

Park Plaza hotels (PPHE) has reported a 5% rise in revenue to £341.5m thanks to full-year contributions from Park Plaza London Waterloo and Park Plaza London Park Royal.

The group, which now operates eight hotels in London and 38 worldwide, said that EBITDA for the year ended 31 December 2018 increased by 5.5% to £113.2m.

It said that the growth was driven by improved trading across all our operating regions, with like-for-like revpar up 5% at £98.

The UK region in particular had a strong second half of 2018 with reported revpar at up 5.2% at £98 driven by a 2.5% increase in average room rate and an improvement in occupancy.

Having completed the refurbishment and repositioning projects at Park Plaza London Riverbank, PPHE said it would now take on work at Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes London as well as some European sites.

President and chief executive officer Boris Ivesha said: "In 2018 we delivered year-on-year revenue and profit growth as we benefited from improved trading across all regions. This was achieved despite significant investments of more than £60m in our hospitality assets causing five hotels to be partly or fully closed during the year. Our results coupled with our strategic progress reflect the strength of our business model, the appeal of our portfolio as well as our rigorous focus on inspirational service delivery to delight our guests.

He added: "We are ever mindful of the economic and political headwinds, most notably in light of the UK's impending departure from the European Union but we have made a number of contingency plans and are confident that the group is well placed to continue creating and delivering strong shareholder value this year and beyond."