Radisson financial results "in line" with its five-year plan

Radisson Hotel Group's president and chief executive Federico J González has said the group's 2018 end of year results are "in line" with its five-year plan following its rebrand last year.

Carlson Rezidor rebranded as Radisson Hotel Group last year in a bid to become "one of the three ‘top of mind' hotel companies".

The group's profit was €3.6m (£3.1m) according to the group's end of year financial report for the 12 months ended December 2018, compared to 2017's €4.4m (£3.8m).

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 26.3% to €103.7m (£89.1m), while revenue dropped slightly, a 0.8% decrease to €959.2m (£824.1m). Revenue per available room (revpar) increased by 1.8%.

During the group's fourth quarter revenue increased just 1.8% to €246m (£211.4m), mainly due to strong performance in the like-for-like hotel portfolio.

EBITDA increased by 1.2% to €17m (£14.5m), where an increase in like-for-like revenue growth and reduction in operating costs were offset by one-off costs for restructuring of €6m (£5.2m).

González said operating costs in the fourth were higher than in previous quarters, as expected, and announced that Radisson expects like-for-like revenue, including hotels under renovation, to increase by 4.5-5% for 2019.

As part of the group's repositioning more than 500 of the brand's hotels are being rebranded or repositioned and it has been exiting "a significant amount of hotels", according to González. However, he said the group is still looking to grow "significantly" in the UK, particularly focusing on its Radisson Red brand.

On 5 February, a consortium led by Jin Jiang International Holdings, through Aplite Holdings, announced that it had acquired 94.1% of the shares and votes in Radisson Hospitality. Aplite intends to commence a squeeze-out procedure to acquire the remaining shares.

Radisson has more than 1,400 hotels in operation and under development around the world across eight brands.

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