Mahindra Holidays & Resorts gains as company plans inventory expansion

NEW DELHI – Shares of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts climbed 2.2 per cent in early trade on Tuesday as the company, which operates under the flagship Club Mahindra brand of membership-only resorts, announced plans to add over 300 rooms by March to take the overall inventory to 4,500 keys, a top company official was quoted as saying in reports.

The counter rose to a high of Rs 193.10 against the previous close of Rs 188.95 on the BSE.

"We started this fiscal with 4,197 rooms and we are on course to close the year with an inventory of 4,500 rooms. We are adding a little over 300 rooms to our existing properties at Assonora in Goa and Ganapatiphule in Maharashtra," Kavinder Singh, managing director and chief executive of Mahindra Holidays, was quoted as saying by PTI.

According to Singh, these projects are part of the planned Rs 1,200-crore capital investment to add over 1,000 rooms in the next three years ending FY24 when "we will an inventory to over 5,500 rooms. Last fiscal, we added 465 rooms", PTI reported.

The company operates 78 properties offering 4,233 keys as of now and has been clocking about 80 per cent occupancy in the third quarter and hopes to better it going ahead provided there is no third wave and the resultant mobility curbs, the report said.

In July-September, the Mahindra group firm reported a robust quarterly profit of Rs 40.6 crore even as the coronavirus pandemic took a major toll on the tourism and hospitality industry.

According to PTI’s report, when Singh was asked about fresh acquisition plans, he said that leisure properties were doing well overseas and there were hardly any distress sales, ruling out any immediate announcement on that front.