OSLO: Belmond Ltd. (NYSE:BEL), owners, part-owners or managers of 45 luxury hotel, restaurant, tourist train and river cruise properties operating in 22 countries, announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.
Total revenue in the first quarter of 2015 was $99.1 million, down $2.7 million or 3% from $101.8 million in the first quarter of 2014.
Total revenue was negatively impacted by the depreciation of most of the Company’s functional currencies against the U.S. dollar, which contributed to an $8.3 million decrease in reported revenue for the first quarter of 2015. Excluding the impact of currency movements, total revenue in the first quarter of 2015 increased $5.6 million or 5% over the first quarter of 2014.
Total hotels revenue for the first quarter was $89.6 million, an increase of $0.7 million or 1% over $88.9 million in the first quarter of 2014.
Total hotels revenue for the first quarter of 2015 was negatively impacted by $7.9 million as a result of currency depreciation. Excluding the impact of currency movements, total hotels revenue in the first quarter of 2015 increased $8.6 million dollars or 10%. Total hotels revenue in the current-year quarter benefited from a $2.3 million increase at Belmond Miraflores Park, Lima, Peru, which was closed for renovation for the first quarter of 2014, partially offset by a $1.3 million decrease in revenue for Inn at Perry Cabin by Belmond, St. Michaels, Maryland, which the Company sold in March 2014.
Excluding currency movements, Belmond Miraflores Park and Inn at Perry Cabin, total hotels revenue for the first quarter of 2015 increased $7.6 million or 9% over the first quarter of 2014.
Same store RevPAR for owned hotels in the first quarter of 2015 increased 9% in local currency over the prior-year quarter as a result of an 8% increase in average daily rate (“ADR”) and a 1 percentage point increase in occupancy.
In U.S. dollars, same store RevPAR for owned hotels in the first quarter of 2015 was on par with RevPAR for the prior-year quarter.
Same store RevPAR for the first quarter of 2015 excluded Inn at Perry Cabin, Belmond Miraflores Park and Belmond Eagle Island Lodge, one of the Company’s three safari camps in Botswana, which is currently closed for renovation.
Total adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2015 was $4.3 million, a $3.6 million increase over total adjusted EBITDA of $0.7 million for the first quarter of 2014.
The year-over-year growth included a $1.5 million EBITDA increase at Belmond Miraflores Park, as the hotel was closed for renovation in the prior-year quarter, and a $0.7 million EBITDA increase for Inn at Perry Cabin, which the Company sold in March 2014 and recorded an EBITDA loss in the first quarter of 2014. EBITDA for the quarter also benefited from a $2.8 million year-over-year increase in EBITDA for the remainder of the Company’s North American owned hotels portfolio due in part to a $1.1 million or 26% increase in EBITDA for Belmond Charleston Place, South Carolina, partially offset by a $1.5 million decrease in EBITDA from the Company’s owned trains & cruises.
