PETALING JAYA: Eastern & Oriental Bhd (E&O), which returned to the black in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2019, said the recent Covid-19 outbreak has adversely impacted its hotel occupancy.
“However, the unique hotel offerings and experience will position the hotel well in the longer term,“ the property developer said.
The group added that its Eastern & Oriental Hotel now has more diverse and complete offerings with the completion of the newly refurbished rooms and facilities of the Heritage Wing in December 2019.
E&O posted a net profit of RM18.76 million in the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2019 compared with a net loss of RM8.76 million a year ago, thanks to higher other income and lower income tax expense.
Its revenue, however, more than halved to RM119.15 million from RM256.95 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
For the nine-month period, its net profit fell 65.9% to RM8.09 million from RM23.70 million largely due to lower operating results from both the property and the hospitality segments.
Its revenue dropped 38.6% to RM390.57 million RM636.34 million mainly attributable to the property segment which registered a decrease of RM230.1 million.
The hospitality segment also registered a lower revenue with a decrease of RM17.6 million due to the temporary closure of the Heritage Wing of Eastern & Oriental Hotel for refurbishment.
With the property market remaining subdued, E&O is expecting slower property sales in the near term from both the local and foreign markets. It will be launching properties worth RM1.3 billion in gross development value.
At 2.53pm, the stock slipped 1 sen to 55.5 sen with 1.44 million shares changing hands.
