Sinclairs Hotels Limited today announced the reopening of Sinclairs Retreat Ooty. The 72-room and 7-suite hill resort is located 2240m above sea level in the panoramic Nilgiri Hills or Blue Mountains, and has been extensively refurbished after undergoing a complete renovation and upgradation programme through all of 2011. The property, which is a three-hour drive from the Coimbatore airport, has opened in time to leverage the peak summer season which typically sees a spike in tourist arrivals in the region.
Sinclairs’ portfolio, ex-Ooty, which comprises properties in Siliguri, Darjeeling, Dooars and Port Blair, recorded strong year-on-year performance with a 10% increase in topline and 5% increase in profit from the previous year.
The group also recently acquired majority ownership of Savannah Sarovar Premiere- a 104 room upscale operational hotel in Whitefield, the IT hub of Bengaluru. With this acquisition, Sinclairs is firmly positioned to cultivate the traditionally strong business and leisure segments in Bengaluru and its adjoining metropolitan region.
Navin Suchanti, CEO and MD of Sinclairs Hotels Ltd. said, “Sinclairs has pursued a focussed strategy of delivering strong operating performance, enabling the company to deliver consistent growth and attractive returns to shareholders. In the last two fiscals, dividends of 25% and 35% were paid to the shareholders. The Board of Directors of Sinclairs Hotels has announced an interim dividend of 40% for the current fiscal FY 12 on the back of continued strong operational performance.”
Sinclairs’ portfolio is on course to increase to around 600 keys across nine destinations as a result of the company’s new projects pipeline:
• A luxury hill resort in Kalimpong, a quaint hill town in Darjeeling district,
• A tourist resort with a hotel, club and banquet complex in Burdwan, a rapidly growing urban hub 100km outside Kolkata, and
• A 106 room premier business hotel in Kolkata, for which the company is awaiting final sanction.
Sid Yog, managing partner of The Xander Group, that has been invested in Sinclairs since 2007 said, “We are very pleased to see Sinclairs Hotels on a consistent fast growth track; since December 2007, the company’s share price has increased by 75% reflecting the firm’s strong operational performance and the market’s growing confidence in the firm. With a strong balance sheet, zero debt, six operating assets and three additional projects in the pipeline, the company is uniquely poised to take a more aggressive view on expansion through bolt-on acquisitions. We look forward to continuing to work with the company’s management in implementing its vision of becoming the preferred hospitality brand in the fast growing budget segment.”
The company is actively looking to acquire brownfield and operational assets across markets including Bengaluru, Mysore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, and Patna apart from the gateway cities of New Delhi and Mumbai.
