Mandarin Oriental's profit for first half of 2015 slumps 29%

MANDARIN Oriental International on Thursday reported a 29 per cent drop in net profit to US$32.4 million for its first six months ended June 30, 2015.

Combined total revenue of hotels under management (including its subsidiary hotels, as well as associate, joint-venture and managed hotels) fell 5 per cent to US$640.9 million.

The group said its results were affected by softer demand in Hong Kong and Paris, together with the impact of renovations at a number of properties.

In Hong Kong, a decline in demand led to lower occupancy and average rates at the group's two wholly owned hotels. In Tokyo and Bangkok, the group's hotels benefited from increased visitor arrivals, while softer city-wide corporate demand led to weaker performances in Singapore and in Kuala Lumpur where the hotel is also undergoing a renovation.

In Europe, there was an improved performance in London, but there were challenging conditions in Paris and a renovation in Munich, and the strengthening of the US dollar led to a lower contribution from the region.

In the Americas, the group's hotels, with the exception of New York where its hotel was being refurbished, benefited from positive trading conditions and produced an increase in revenue per available room.

Mandarin Oriental has declared an unchanged interim dividend of two US cents per share, payable on Oct 14 to shareholders on the register of members on Aug 21.

The group expects challenging conditions in some of its key markets to influence its full-year performance.

Its shares closed on Thursday unchanged at US$1.61 before its results release.