The Hindu Business Line : Taj GVK Q4 net rises 117 pc

Mr G.V. Krishna Reddy (right), Chairman, TajGVK Hotels & Resorts Ltd, with Mr Raymond Bickson, Managing Director, Indian Hotels, at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. - Paul Noronha

Mumbai , April 25

Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Ltd on Tuesday reported a 109.37 per cent rise in net profit for 2005-06, at Rs 46.25 crore, compared to Rs 22.09 crore declared last year. Net sales/income from operations gained 63.45 per cent to Rs 188.74 crore (Rs 115.47 crore) ).

The board has recommended 100 per cent dividend. For Q4 FY06, the company posted a 117.18 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 15.42 crore (Rs 7.10 crore) on a 73.99 per cent rise in net sales from operations to Rs 60.95 crore (Rs 35.03 crore).

Aims Rs 500-cr turnover

At a press briefing, Mr G.V. Krishna Reddy, Executive Chairman, said that the hotel company aimed to have a turnover of Rs 500 crore by 2009-2010. It would be investing Rs 400 crore to develop new properties and expand existing ones, hiking room inventory from the current 684 rooms to 1,400 by the end of this decade.

At present, Taj GVK has three hotels in Hyderabad and one in Chandigarh. The proposed investments include new hotels at Chennai and Hyderabad, expansion of the Taj Residency and Taj Krishna and development of luxury residences - all of which would bring in 716 new rooms.

Acquiring land

Further, the company is close to acquiring near 12 acres of land in Bangalore to construct a luxury hotel. According to a senior official of the Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), the emphasis in Taj GVK's growth plan was to have more luxury properties. Some of the proposed incremental expansions at properties in Hyderabad track this trend and seek to graduate the hotel to a higher level of comfort.

IHCL owns 25.5 per cent equity in Taj GVK.

Shares of Taj GVK Hotel ended nearly unchanged at Rs 249.80 in Tuesday's trade on BSE.