JW Marriott Bucharest, the biggest hotel operating in the capital city, recorded the highest profit on the hotel market in 2005.
Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand (GHES), which manages the five-star JW Marriott hotel in Bucharest, last year posted gross income worth 51.2 million RON (14.2 million euros), according to data presented in the Official Gazette.
The figure is more than three times larger than the 14.1 million RON (3.5 million euros) reported in 2004.
Under the circumstances, JW Marriott derived the highest profit on the domestic hotel market and is the number one hotel in Romania in terms of turnover.
GHES representatives chose not to comment on the figures. The general meeting of GHES shareholders has recently approved the contracting of a loan worth around 111 million euros from Austria's Erste Bank to refinance the debts the company has to a syndicate of international banks.
In the mid ?90s, GHES contracted a state-guaranteed loan worth over 100 million euros to build the hotel. The lender was a syndicate of Austrian financial institutions led by Erste Bank, the new owner BCR, Romania's biggest bank.
According to the latest information available, the company still owes the banks around 80 million euros. The hotel has been recently assessed at 150 million euros, an action requested by GHES lenders, according to some market sources. GHES posted turnover worth 123.6 million RON (34.3 million euros), including revenues from accommodations and from the rental of office space, the shopping area and the casino. Around 40% of this sum comes from the food&beverage segment.
Company sources have recently announced a capital increase by around 30 million euros is considered for GHES.
According to the latest information available, GHES shareholders are Bauholding Strabag (controlling 51% directly and 4% indirectly), ONT Carpati (with a 35% stake) and Alliance Overseas (with 15%).
JW Marriott is run under a management contract with the Marriott International hotel chain. Recently sources have suggested that the company plans to introduce other brands from its portfolio onto the market, which includes such names as Renaissance, Courtyard and Ritz Carlton. The new hotel is likely to be located in Bucharest, as well as an additional one in either Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca or Sibiu.
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