Dalata is “optimistic” for next year and expects its full-year revenues to exceed €600 million in 2023 after a “record year” of growth, the Dublin-listed hotel group said in a trading update on Wednesday. The company, which operates the Maldron and Clayton brands, opened three new hotels in the UK and the Netherlands this year, and expects to add four properties to its portfolio in 2024, including its first hotels in Brighton and Liverpool. The new locations will add 834 rooms to Dalata’s portfolio, the group said.
Coupled with a further recovery in corporate travel next year and “more direct flight connections” to its city locations, the group said it was “optimistic” heading into 2024 with “strong lead indicators” across its customer segments.
This year Dalata expects revenues to top €600 million, up from €516 million last year, with group revenue per available room (Revpar) – a key profitability metric in the hotel industry – 3 per cent ahead of 2022 levels.
“Dalata is on course to deliver another exceptional result this year driven by strong operational performance across our existing hotels and the impact of new additions to the portfolio,” said Dalata chief executive Dermot Crowley.
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The group also announced in October that it has bought a development site in Edinburgh for a new hotel. This will involve an investment of £48 million (€55m) as the Irish-listed company expands its footprint in Scotland to three hotels.
“In our recent first-half results we set out our firepower potential of €750 million to grow in the medium term beyond our currently announced pipeline,” Mr Crowley said. “Since then we have secured our second hotel in continental Europe with the addition of the newly-rebranded Clayton Hotel Amsterdam American and the acquisition of our first site in Edinburgh where we will develop a four-star Clayton Hotel.”
Dalata has been one of the top performing Irish stocks this year with its share price up by close to 25 per cent since the start of 2023.
In half-year results published in August, Dalata reported a 29 per cent year-on-year increase in hotel revenues to €284.4 million for the six-month period to the end June.
The average nightly price of a room across Dalata’s portfolio of hotels in Ireland and Britain jumped almost 10 per cent to €139.50 from €126.89 last year, with the group achieving like-for-like Revpar of €112.09, up 23 per cent from 2022.
Mr Crowley said: “Our growth ambitions, coupled with strong demand across our markets and our financial capacity to secure attractive opportunities, underscores our ongoing ability to deliver value to our shareholders.”
In a note to clients, analysts from Davy, which acts as Dalata’s broker, said the latest update rounded out a “stellar” year for the hotel operator. Davy plans to upgrade its full-year forecasts by a further 2-3 per cent, meaning Davy will have upgraded its outlook for Dalata’s shares by 30 per cent in the year to date.
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