57 per cent Q1 profit drop for global hotel chain

Hospitality group Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has reported a 57.7 per cent year-on-year drop in pre-tax profit for Q1.

The hospitality group, which has hotels in the UK and across the world, reported pre-tax profits of £11m for the first quarter of this year, compared with 2018 Q1 profits of £26m.

The firm attributes the performance to the negative impact caused by refurbishments of hotels in the group’s ‘key gateway cities’ London and Singapore.

Following the results, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has yet to announce any plans to alter the UK arm of the business, comprising hotels in cities such as London, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle.

Instead the group plans to focus on its ongoing refurbishments, as well as securing an affiliation agreement with global chain Hilton for the Millennium Times Square hotel in New York.

The group’s chairman Kwek Leng Beng commented: “Despite the uncertainties and challenges in the global economy, we remain focused on making the best use of our hospitality assets.

“The group is prioritising the refurbishment of our key gateway city properties to reposition our hotels, whilst seeking to minimise the short-term negative impact on our trading results.

“Operationally, we must successfully manage the refurbishment process and re-focus our sales efforts so as to improve yields.”