Growth in room rates drives 2% turnover increase at Apex Hotels

Apex Hotels, the family-owned group of nine hotels, has reported a 2% increase in turnover to £57.2m as the company looks to expand for the first time beyond Scotland and London.

The total number of rooms sold were down by just under 1% to 360,334 and occupancy fell back from 87.2% to 86.5%, reflecting the comparison to the strong performance recorded during 2014 resulting from the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

However, growth in revpar of 4% to £109.17 and 5% increase in average room rate to £126.17 helped drive the turnover growth.

Apex Hotels, which has six properties in Scotland (four in Edinburgh and one each in Glasgow and Dundee) and three in London, said that the strong underlying performance of the business was reflected in the hotel valuations, which increased by £18.9m to £299m.

The group's ninth hotel, the 104-bedroom Apex City of Glasgow, opened in September 2015, following the acquisition and refurbishment of Marks hotel.

Work is now underway on the £35m development of Apex's 10th hotel, which will be in Bath. The 177-bedroom property will open in summer 2017.

Meanwhile, the Apex City of London recently completed a 30-bedroom expansion, taking the hotel up to 209 bedrooms.

Ian Springford, chairman, Apex Hotels, said: "Following an exceptionally strong financial performance last year, driven by one-off events such as the Ryder Cup and Glasgow Commonwealth Games, I am delighted to see another year of growth in our results. We anticipate a further busy year in 2016, with extensive refurbishment plans for the current portfolio and the celebration of the group's 20-year anniversary".

Apex Hotels was founded in 1996 by Ian Springford's father, Norman, who stepped down as chairman two years ago.

Apex Hotels acquires first Glasgow property >>Norman Springford steps down as chairman of Apex Hotels >>Profits up by 25% at Apex Hotels >>Looking for a job? See all the current hotel vacancies available with The Caterer Jobs >>

Latest video from The Caterer