Westin hotel loses revenue to Covid-19

Westin hotel has reported a 25 percent drop in revenues in the third quarter of the current financial year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Unique Hotel and Resorts, which is listed on stock exchanges, runs The Westin Dhaka and Hansa - a premium residence in the capital.

In the January-March quarter accounts published on 22 May 2020, the company's revenue from Westin stood at Tk39.25 crore, which was Tk52.2 crore at the same time in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Hansa's revenue has slightly increased to Tk2 crore despite the pandemic.

"Business is dull due to coronavirus. Though the hotel is open, there is not much activity now. However, the restaurants of the hotel are open and the food items are being sold online,".

During the three months till the end of March, Unique hotels' net profit fell by 69 percent to stand at Tk5 crore, and earnings per share was Tk0.17.

In the three quarters of the current financial year, the total net profit dropped 34 percent to Tk34.91 crore, and earnings per share was Tk1.17. The revenue was Tk152.88 crore during the period. As per the Q3 accouts, the profit declined due to the unrealized loss from the capital market investment.

In March this year, the company took a loan of Tk100 crore from Dutch Bangla Bank.

Unique Hotel's projects

The company has invested around Tk1,600 crore for building three posh hotels – Sheraton Dhaka Hotel, Hyatt Centric and St Regis. Sheraton was set to go into operation by March this year.

Share performance

Unique Hotel and Resorts was listed with the stock market in 2012. At the time, the company collected Tk195 crore by issuing shares with a face value of Tk10 along with a Tk65 premium on each share.

Sunday's closing price per share was Tk39.90 at the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The highest price of its share was Tk53.50 within the last one year.

The paid up capital of the Unique Hotel is Tk294.40 crore. Sponsors and directors have 52.23 percent shares, institutional investors 31.85 percent, foreign investors 1.29 percent and general investors 14.63 percent.