InterContinental owning company narrows losses

Bangladesh Services Limited, the owning company of InterContinental Dhaka and Bangabandhu International Conference Center, has incurred lower losses this fiscal year, thanks to a rise in room bookings and events following the pandemic. 

The loss stood at Tk 29 crore in the first nine months of fiscal year 2022-23, according to the company's disclosure posted on Dhaka Stock Exchange's (DSE) website yesterday.

It was Tk 74 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

From July 2022 to March 2023, the earnings per share of the company stood at Tk 3.06 in the negative whereas Tk 7.66 in the corresponding period of the preceding year.

The decrease in losses was owing to higher revenues from the hotel and conference centre, the company said in the disclosure.

The revenue of the hotel increased to Tk 127 crore during the third quarter of this fiscal year, up from Tk 77 crore during the corresponding period of the precious fiscal year, said Md Atiqur Rahaman, managing director of Bangladesh Services Limited.

Losses were still being incurred due to the depreciation of the local currency against US dollar, he said.

"Even our occupancy rate reached 48 per cent this year which was around 10 percentage point higher than that last year," he added.

The company has been incurring losses since fiscal year 2015-16 when its financials were hit by renovations of InterContinental Dhaka which started in 2014.

Its commercial operations commenced at the end of 2018 and its loss dropped to Tk 36 crore in 2018-19 from Tk 55 crore in the previous year.

Then the pandemic hit and the company's losses soared to Tk 180 crore in 2020-21. In 2021-22, the loss fell to Tk 110 crore.

Though the outbreak of Covid-19 has subsided, the company's earnings have not improved that much.

A majority of its hotel's rooms are availed by international guests who have arrived in fewer numbers, the company said in its annual report for fiscal year 2021-22.

However, sales in the hotel's restaurants and venue bookings have increased, it added.

Its reserves and surplus amount to Tk 3,189 crore in the negative. Due to its continuous losses, the company did not disburse any dividend after 2014, according to the DSE data.