Barbados boom helps newly floated Elegant Hotels

A boost in visitor numbers in Barbados helped propel Elegant Hotels Group from its May float to a sizeable growth in profits.

The owner-operator of five luxury hotels and a major restaurant on the Caribbean island released its full-year results on Wednesday.

It shows revenue increasing by 4.1% to $60.1m (£40.04m) as at 30 September.

Adjusted operating profit grew by 15.7% to $19.2m, and EBITDA went up 12.7% to $22.2m.

The period saw the successful IPO and listing of Elegant Hotels on the AIM, which occured on May 26, 2015.
CEO Sunil Chatrani described the financial year as a landmark one.

"We achieved strong revenue and underlying profit growth, and demand for Barbados as a tourist destination remains buoyant with arrivals and flight capacity both continuing to improve.

"The group's admission to AIM in May has provided us with a great foundation from which to grow and expand, both organically and through acquisitions in Barbados and the wider Caribbean", he added.

The healthy tourism market for Barbados helped the group. After several years of flat figures, the total number of tourist arrivals for the year to October 31 was up almost 15%.

Visitors from the US and the UK - considered the key markets for high-end hotels - were up by 28.2% and 12.7% respectively.

Elegant Hotels proposed a final dividend of 1.75p per share, resulting in a full year dividend of 3.5p per share for the five months the firm had been listed.

As of 1520 GMT on Wednesday, shares in Elegant Hotels were up 2.68% to 115p.