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| COMFORTING |
Mumbai, June 23: Indian Hotels Company Limited has posted a profit after tax of Rs 377.46 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008, a 17 per cent increase over the previous year.
Turnover rose 13 per cent to Rs 1,823.13 crore during the period under review.
Consolidated revenues of the Tata group entity improved 16 per cent to Rs 3,076.77 crore.
Consolidated profit after tax for the year was Rs 354.98 crore, achieved after absorbing the impact of interest amounting to $9.59 million on a $300 million loan raised by Samsara Properties, a 100 per cent overseas subsidiary of Indian Hotels, to acquire a 11.57 per cent stake in Orient Express Hotels.
The company also incurred an expenditure of Rs 54.16 crore as employee severance after it terminated the services of a section of employees at The Pierre Hotel, New York, where all rooms have been closed since January for extensive renovations.
Indian Hotels managing director Raymond Bickson said, “Continuing the aggressive growth agenda, the Taj group is scheduled to open new hotels in Bangalore, Chennai and Trivandrum in the second quarter of the current year and also expand capacity at Land’s End in Mumbai and Fisherman’s Cove in Chennai later this year.”
During the year, Indian Hotels raised Rs 1,447 crore through a rights issue, of which Rs 844 crore was raised as equity and Rs 603 crore through non-convertible debentures.