The Hindu Business Line : Oriental Hotels nets Rs 9.3 cr, to pay Rs 4

ORIENTAL Hotels Ltd registered a net profit of Rs 9.34 crore for the year ended March 31, 2004 compared with a net profit of Rs 5.38 crore in the previous year.

The total income of the company for the year was Rs 115.25 crore (Rs 99.04 crore), a growth of 16 per cent. The Board of Directors of the company has recommended a dividend of Rs 4 per share.

The company achieved a total income of Rs 36.17 crore (Rs 28.69 crore) for the three months ended March 31, 2004, a growth of 26 per cent. Profit after tax was Rs 4.74 crore (Rs 2.71 crore). Mr P.K. Mohan Kumar, Chief Operating Officer, Oriental Hotels, said that the company had seven hotels in the luxury, business and leisure categories. He said all these categories have seen a surge in occupancies during the fourth quarter of last year.

A reason for the increase in occupancies was the lifting of travel advisories imposed on travel to South East Asian countries by the UK, the US and other Western countries.

An additional benefit was the various incentives given by both the State and Central Governments, which helped the industry considerably.

Chennai occupied the fourth slot in terms of ranking in occupancies during most part of the financial year 2003-04.

During the year ended March 31, 2004, the Tower wing of the Taj Malabar consisting of 63 rooms was added, and the coffee shop, was relaunched as `Pepper'. The speciality restaurant `Rice Boat' that had undergone renovation came back into circulation during the last week of December 2003. This property is now being positioned as a premier leisure resort property.

The cost of renovation of two luxury resort properties Fisherman's Cove and Taj Malabar was around Rs 50 crore over a period of four years, Mr C. Ravishankar, Company Secretary, Oriental Hotels, said.