Jun 2010 Financial News

Almond declares $2.5 million loss

Jun 16, 2010

THE continued depressed state of occupancy levels and average daily rates, caused by the continued effects of the global economic crisis, has resulted in Almond Resorts Inc recording a loss of almost Bds$2.5 million for the first half of their current financial year.

For the period ended March 31st, 2010, a recently published unaudited consolidated statement of income reported that the hotel group recorded revenue of $36.6 million, some $1.5 million less than the $38.1 million recorded at the same point in 2009.
After accounting for expenses, share of losses of associated companies, and taxation, the Group recorded a net loss of $2.49 million, a drastic turnaround following the $1.9 million profit seen at the end of the same period a year earlier.

According to Group officials, Chairman, Arthur Lok Jack, and President & CEO, Ralph Taylor, in their accompanying statement, Almond’s performance in the first of the current financial year that ends September 30th, 2010, reflects the continued effects of the global economic crises.

They indicated that the winter season, which began on December 15th of last year, showed some improvements, but made the point that a poor first quarter of the financial year negatively affected the performance of the group.

“Morgan Bay has been particularly affected due to the limited airlift servicing St. Lucia in the fall period, resulting in an increase in share of losses from associated companies”, they said.

Going forward the Group expressed its commitment to continuing its focus on cost containment across all properties, while striving to increase revenue.
“We have seen significant improvements in our level of customers from USA and Canada, but the UK continues to decline”, the officials said. “Overall, there is hope that we will see improvements over the coming month as Barbados and St. Lucia are predicting improved visitor arrivals.”

Today the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) will be holding their quarterly General Meeting at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, where the performance of the accommodations sector will be discussed.

If Almond’s results are a reflection of the sector as a whole, then it can be expected that similar performance levels will be revealed.


Source:
Barbados Advocate
Wednesday June 16, 2010

http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=business&NewsID=10856