During the period under, ASL Finance Director, Nigel Mangwiro said during the period under review, revenue grew by 12 percent to US$54,4 million from US$48,7 million.
"The growth was spurred by a stronger performance particularly from the resort hotels in Victoria Falls and a 14 percent growth in ADR. RevPAR grew by 18 percent to close the year under review at US$47 from US$40 last year," he said.
The increase in operating expenses was limited to 2 percent, three percentage points behind average inflation, as savings from the staff restruturing exercise were realised in this financial year.
The positive effect of all these factors enabled the group to achieve EBITDA of US$6,31 million (11,6 percent margin), compared to US$2,73 millio (6 percent margin) from continuing operaions reported last year.
The EBITDA margin achieved was a 3,5 percentage points higher than the 8 percent forecast. Net interest expenses increased by 86 percent from year to close at US$2,86 million following an increase in short-term loans and average cost of borrowing.
Profit before tax of US$3,37 millon was a turnaround from a loss of US$4,75 million reported in the prior year.
After a full drawdown on the refurbishment facility and the increase in short-term loans, net debt increased by 83 percent to US$15,49 million. Borrowings of US$1,5 million relating to the Botswana project were paid off from the proceeds to the disposal of the project.
Going forward, ASL chied executive Shingi Munyeza said it was targeting to reduce borrowings from the current levels through a number of initiatives which are currently being explored. This will see short-term loans either replaced by medium to long-term loan facilities or reduced partially.
"To enhance accessibility of our hotels in the digital market place, we will complete the roll-out of OPERA property management system and install a seamless reservations and distribution platform to manage booking and payments online," he said.
He said after the completion of the first phase of the refurbishment program, ASL intends to commence a second phase covering the resort hotels in Victoria Fall by April 2013.
"The group is expecting to achieve a full year EBITDA margin of 12 percent and revenue growth of at least 10 percent in the financial year 2013," he said.
Post published in: Business