InterContinental narrows quarterly losses
The business of Bangladesh Services Limited – the owner of the country's first five-star hotel, the InterContinental – has crawled back to health in the final three months of 2021 thanks to the reopening of the economy amid easing Covid-19 restrictions.
Listed on the capital market in 1984, the company reported a decline in its net loss per share compared to the previous fiscal year.
The loss per share was Tk1.78, down from Tk3.88 a year earlier.
The state-owned hospitality company also operates Balaka Executive Lounge at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, and two other complexes.
The company, having a paid-up capital of Tk97.79 crore, remained out of operation for several years for renovation, when it had incurred huge losses and failed to pay any dividend since 2014, according to its stock exchange filings.
Although it narrowed losses in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the loss per share stood at Tk5.76 for the six months through December, owing to a big loss in the July-September quarter when the pandemic surged significantly.
In the first three months of the current fiscal year, its revenue soared by 148%. Still, the company incurred a loss of Tk38.92 crore as its administrative, and other expenses swelled by 759% to Tk34.64 crore from Tk4.03 crore a year earlier.
In FY21, the government-owned firm in the hotel sector had incurred a heavy loss of Tk181 crore – the biggest since its inception.
For this loss, the company said it could not achieve its revenue target as the Covid-19 pandemic struck the hospitality industry and affected the hotel business severely.
According to the company, InterContinental started its journey in the mid-sixties. Subsequently, it operated as Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, and Ruposhi Bangla.
With the management agreement for 30 years between InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd and Bangladesh Service Limited, the hotel was named InterContinental Dhaka.
