Dalata Hotel Group (DAL) tumbled into a pre-tax loss after hotel closures and muted international travel dragged the Irish hotel operator’s occupancy rates to record lows. Occupancy averaged at 34 per cent over its interim period, compared with 80 per cent in the prior half, although this is expected to have recovered to around 40 per cent in August. All of its hotels are now open.
The pandemic wiped €161m (£144m) off the value of Dalata’s property assets over the half, which represents a drop of around 12 per cent since December 2019. The group took action to preserve cash flows in response to the pandemic, conducting a €65m sale and leaseback of its Clayton Hotel Charlemont in Dublin, although this generated an accounting loss of €1.6m. Dalata’s acquisitions spend was almost nil compared with an outlay of €110m over last year’s first half, while the group also launched a share placing alongside its results equating to around a fifth of its value.
Consensus earnings forecasts are for full-year losses per share of 42¢ in 2020, followed by earnings per share of 2¢ in 2021.
| DALATA HOTEL GROUP (DAL) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 232p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 431m | |
| TOUCH: | 231-241p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 502p | LOW: 147p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | Nil | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 477¢ | NET DEBT: | 83% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (€m) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
| 2019 | 202 | 37.8 | 17.7 | 10.50 |
| 2020 | 80.8 | -70.9 | -34.0 | nil |
| % change | -60 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| £1=€1.12 | ||||
