Indian Hotels shares in focus on Thursday after Q2 results, strong outlook for H2

Shares of Indian Hotels Ltd. reported results for the September quarter after market hours on Tuesday, November 4, which puts the stock in the spotlight for Thursday's trading session due to the market holiday on Wednesday.

For the September quarter, Indian Hotels reported a 12% year-on-year growth in its topline to ₹2,124 crore, while its net profit, on an adjusted basis, increased by 15% from last year to ₹285 crore. The profit growth figure is excluding the one-off exceptional gain of ₹307 crore that the company made in the same quarter last year due to the subsidiarization of TajSATS.

Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 16% from the same quarter last year to ₹653 crore, while margins expanded by 90 basis points to 30.8% at the end of the September quarter.

At the end of the first half of the financial year, Indian Hotels had 46 new signings, taking its overall portfolio of 570 hotels. 26 new hotels were opened during this period, taking the total figure to over 250 operating hotels in the country with over 25,000 rooms.

As part of its strategic partnership with the Clarks Group, 14 hotels have been onboarded already to Indian Hotels' sales and distribution network and the remaining will be migrated in the coming months, Indian Hotels stated in its post-earnings release.

"On the back of strong industry fundamentals, outlook for the second half of the fiscal remains strong with a rebound in corporate travel, seasonal surge in social events and global conventions & trade fairs," Indian Hotels MD & CEO Puneet Chhatwal was quoted as saying.

On a consolidated basis, Indian Hotels saw a RevPAR growth of 9% from last year, while the international consolidated portfolio saw 11% growth for the same metric.

Indian Hotels' Air & Institutional Catering Business Segment (TajSATS) saw revenue of ₹577 crore with a 12% share from non-aviation segment. Margins for this segment stood at 23.6%. New businesses, which comprise of Ginger, Qmin, amã Stays & Trails and Tree of Life, saw enterprise revenue of ₹423 crore, a growth of 21%.

Shares of Indian Hotels ended 0.4% lower on Tuesday before the results announcement at ₹744.2. The stock is down 15% so far on a year-to-date basis.