SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 26 (SeeNews) – Polish-listed hotel group Orbis, operating in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), said on Thursday its pre-tax profit rose by 26% to 54.5 million euro ($3 million) in the first nine months of 2017.
"In the third quarter, the Group has added three asset light hotels (310 rooms) entering two new markets: Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina and signed five new agreements (610 rooms) with hotels which will join the Group in the following years. Asset light model, being a strategic axis of the Orbis development plan, apart from financial gains, provides also non-financial benefits, Orbis, said in a press release.
Last week, Orbis Hotel Group opened Mercure Belgrade Excelsior, Serbia's first hotel of the midscale Mercure brand of global travel and lifestyle group AccorHotels.
In May, Orbis Group signed a franchise agreement for a Novotel hotel in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo with its local partner and investor, Al Shiddi Group. The hotel had to join the Novotel network in the third quarter of 2017, the group said at the time. The group also said in September it expects to open a MGallery by Sofitel Tarcin Forest Resort &Spa in Bosnia.
The company’s revenues rose by an annual 6.3% to 258.8 million euro during the January-September period.
"Taking into account strong cash position Orbis is also actively looking for new growth opportunities and unchartered destinations," the group added.
Operating EBITDA rose 21.1% year-on-year to 86.2 million euro.
The occupancy rate for the nine month period rose by 1.1 percentage points to 74.8%.
Orbis comprises 120 hotels and is the sole licensor of all AccorHotels brands in 16 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. It offers a total of 20,000 rooms.
The hotels operate under the brand names Sofitel, Pullman, M Gallery, Novotel, Mercure, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget.
($ = 0.9202 euro)