I am pleased to announce another successful year for KHI in 2008 with strong revenue growth and a robust performance of the portfolio in an increasingly challenging market environment. The Company concentrated on integrating its recently acquired hotels through active asset management as well as rationalizing its portfolio and directing capital towards existing opportunities.
Value delivered
The year saw the opening of the Four Seasons Mauritius, accompanied by sustained real estate profits at the Four Seasons properties in Egypt and Mauritius. There was also a successful pre-sales launch of the Raffles Residences Manila. The Middle East North Africa and Sub Sahara Africa hotels also delivered strong profit performance.
We completed the renovation of the Fairmont Norfolk, the Fairmont Mount Kenya, the InterContinental Lusaka, and Bur Dubai Residences, as well as the capacity expansion work at the Mövenpick Bur Dubai.
Navigating the downturn
As global economic conditions worsened, we acted swiftly to protect our margins. Some of our early development and expansion projects were either cancelled or put on hold as these and other measures were taken to release capital and safeguard the balance sheet. We remain suitably vigilant with our investments and mindful of new consolidation or disposal opportunities should these arise.
People
I would like to thank all our excellent people for their hard work during another year of strong performance. Limited visibility in the current market brings to the fore the skills, experience and commitment of our management and business teams that will enable the Company to deliver more value-enhancing initiatives in 2009 and beyond as we implement our proven investment strategy.
Outlook
I am confident that the underlying trends in our markets continue to offer excellent growth opportunities and the strength of the Company´s balance sheet allows it to be well positioned to benefit from any recovery. As we move forward, our priorities remain on growth, value-creation, diversification and rationalization.
