Four Seasons blames foreign exchange loss for drop in earnings

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has blamed foreign exchange losses for a 42% drop in its net earnings during the second quarter of 2006, compared with the same period last year.

Net earnings for the period fell from $15.8m (£8.4m) in 2005 to $9.1m (£4.8m).

The company claims operating performance and profitability has improved but that its fall in earnings is the result of incurring $6.8m (£3.6m) worth of "other expenses", primarily relating to foreign exchange losses.

However, the luxury hotel operator saw revpar for the second quarter increasing at its worldwide core hotels by 12.1% and by 11.7% at its US core hotels. The company also reported second quarter increases in gross operating margins of 33.9% at its worldwide core hotels and 32% for its US core hotels.

John Davison, Four Seasons chief financial officer said: "Our financial results reflect the improved performance at the hotels and resorts under our management and our continual focus on improving profitability at the corporate level. We are pleased to have delivered a solid improvement in our operating earnings."

Four Seasons has projects in Koh Samui, Thailand; St Petersburg, Russia; Hangzhou, China and Doha, Qatar in the pipeline.

By Matthew Batham

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