“IHCL reported an all-time high revenue of INR 1,596 crore in Q1 FY25” – Puneet Chhatwal of IHCL

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), India’s largest hospitality company,
reported its consolidated financials for the first quarter ending June 30th 2024.

Consolidated financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2024:

Commenting on the quarter’s performance, Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO of IHCL, said, “IHCL consolidated reported a strong financial performance for the first quarter with an all-time high revenue of INR 1,596 crores and a healthy EBITDA margin of 31%. A diversified top line enabled our performance, with new businesses growing at 37% over the previous year and incremental revenues from the not like-for-like growth. Continuing the growth momentum, our portfolio is now over 325 hotels with 16 signings and six openings in the quarter.”

He added, “With demand continuing to outpace supply and favourable structural tailwinds, the sector is set to clock strong revenue growth in the quarters ahead.”

Performance highlights:

• Outperformed the industry on domestic same-store RevPAR with a premium of 60% vs competition.
• New business vertical comprising Ginger, Qmin and amã Stays & Trails reported a revenue of INR 162 crores, a growth of 37% over the previous year.
• The reimagined businesses of Taj SATS and The Chambers (membership fee) reported a revenue of INR 274 crores, a growth of 17% over the previous year.
• Management fee income stood at INR 114 crores, 17% over the previous year, in line with the capital-light growth strategy.

Industry-leading growth:

• IHCL continues to demonstrate industry-leading growth with 16 hotels signed and six hotels opened.
• The recent signings are well represented across all brands with six Taj, two each of SeleQtions, Tree of Life, and Ginger, one Vivanta and three under the reimagined Gateway brand.
• In Q1, IHCL opened six hotels with a SeleQtions hotel in Mahabaleshwar, Vivanta in Jamshedpur, a Ginger in Nagpur and Jamshedpur, and Tree of Life resorts in Gangtok and Srinagar.

ESG+ highlights under Paathya:

• IHCL now uses 37% of energy from renewable sources and has installed 343 EV charging stations across 142 locations in India.
• Continuing its journey of eliminating single-use plastic, IHCL has installed 46 bottling plants and achieved 42% recycling of water used.
• IHCL partners with and operates 35 skill centres across 15 states in India to build industry-relevant talent pools.

Ankur Dalwani, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of IHCL said, “IHCL consolidated grew operating revenue by 6% and RevPAR outperformed the industry with 60% premium on a same-store basis for domestic hotels. On the back of strong cost focus, IHCL’s operating EBITDA margins expanded by 210 and 100 basis points on standalone and consolidated basis respectively leading to a consolidated PAT growth of 12%. IHCL’s healthy operating cash flows resulted in a gross consolidated cash balance of INR 2,091 crores as of June 30, 2024, with free cash flows generated in the quarter at 3x of Q1 FY 24.”

He added, “In line with our strategy of simplification, IHCL has secured approval to execute an amendment to its shareholder agreement with our partner, SATS Singapore, enabling a consolidation of Taj SATS results on a line-by-line basis as a subsidiary as opposed to equity accounting consolidation.”