International Hotel Investments made a record €14.9 million profit after tax in 2017, completely reversing the €7.7 million post-tax loss it had registered the previous year.

Group chairman Alfred Pisani hailed an "outstanding" year. Photo: IHI

In a company announcement issued late on Friday evening, the group said that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation had risen by 16 per cent in 2017, reaching €61.2 million from €53 million in 2016. 

IHI is a luxury hospitality and real estate group focused on the Corinthia hotel brand. The group owns 12 high-end hotels and has agreements to run a further nine, including hotels still being developed or refurbished in Brussels, Bucharest and Dubai. It also owns architecture and project management firm Quality Projects Ltd, has a real estate arm and operates a catering business in Corinthia Caterers.

Combined revenue from all its various businesses rose to €240 million in 2017, with more than four-fifths of that, 81 per cent, driven by its 12 owned hotels. 

In a letter to shareholders, group chairman Alfred Pisani hailed the company's "outstanding" results in 2017 and highlighted that they came despite the group's investments in Tripoli coming under siege due to geopolitical instability in Libya. 

Mr Pisani said the company board was discussing the possibility of shareholders getting an interim dividend later this year, once the process of rationalising the parent company's balance sheet made it possible. 

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For the company to grow further, he wrote, it would have to start charging guests higher prices, "and for this to happen, our service must continue to match the expectations of a more discerning clientele." 

Malta plans

Earlier this month, IHI completed its buy-out of the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard. With the hotel set to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the group is now preparing to give the property a €5.5 million facelift. 

The company said it expects to start works on its St George's Bay development in 2019, with plans having been modified to incorporate 234 rooms, rather than the 250 originally planned. 

This, Mr Pisani wrote, would ensure each room was at least 50 square metres large and help the development become Malta's first six-star hotel. 

Vacant land between the Corinthia Hotel St George's and the Radisson Blu, which is also owned by IHI, will be developed into two serviced residential blocks.

Feasibility studies for the vacant - and somewhat abandoned - Ħal Ferħ site have also been initiated, Mr Pisani wrote. 

Local gourmands can also expect the Island Caterers, Papillon and Catermax brands to be wound down over the coming years, with the group consolidating its catering efforts into the Corinthia Caterers brand. 

Having established itself in Malta, QP Ltd. will now look to expand overseas, the group chairman told shareholders.