Financial Energy Review
L-R : Executive Director ,Pascal Demarchi ; Company Secretary ,Alex Ugwuanyi; Non – Executive Director / Alternate Chairman,Paul Chukwuma Obi and Managing Director,Ravi Bachu ,all of Capital Hotels Plc during the company’s Annual General Meeting at Abuja Continental Hotel
…….by Ben Ndubuwa…….
Shareholders of Capital Hotels Plc have expressed their excitement over the positive performance and transformation by the new management of Abuja Continental Hotels since taking over last year.
The shareholders who spoke at the 42nd Annual General Meeting of the company in Abuja said the acquisition of majority stake in Capital Hotels by 22 Hospitality Limited, which led to the emergence of a new management of the former Sheraton Hotels in September, has brought a new lease in the hospitality business.
Prior to the emergence of the new management, Sheraton Hotels was managed and operated by Marriott International (owners of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc) under an operating Services, System and Centralised Services Agreements.
The agreements, which subsumed the previous agreements between Capital Hotels and Sheraton Overseas Management Corporation, did not impact significantly in the fortunes of the hotel.
However, at the AGM held at Abuja Continental Hotel , the first since the new management took over, most shareholders who spoke described the arrival of the new management a dream come true, as the hotel has witnessed significant turnaround in most aspects of its operations in the last one year.
The Chairman of Noble Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Chief Innocent Nwokocha Peters, who was the first to speak, said the management of the hotel given shareholders enough reason to hope for better days ahead.
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“The massive rehabilitation of the Abuja Continental Hotel is gradually bringing more life in the hospitality firm, even as the popular events centre in the Iconic hotel is coming up alife again,” Peters said.
Also, he said another plus for the new owners of the company was the clearing of all outstanding gratuities and benefits of former employees, while new staff have been given better contracts and improved conditions of service.
He acknowledged the huge losses incurred by the company under the previous management during 2022 financial year, saying the situation has significantly improved under the new owners.
“The difficult experience during the take over of the company by the new owners was clearly understandable, in view of the deplorable state of the hotel and the huge resources spent on the rehabilitation of the hotel to bring it back to standard can only be described as commendable,” Peters said.
For the President of the Capital Shareholders Association, Chief Augustine Ezechukwu, 22 Hospitality Limited, which is the new management and core investor/ majority shareholder in the hotel, deserves high commendation for the rising improvement and peerless services being rendered by the hotel in recent times.
Ezechukwu said the transformation in the fortunes of the hotel in the last one year was not a fluke, as the parent company of the new investor – NIPCO Investment had made dramatic positive changes in 11Plc since it also acquired the former Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc.
Although he said the turnaround in Abuja Continental Hotel was yet to attain its peak, Ezechukwu
pleaded with shareholders and other investors, particularly the minority shareholders of Capital Hotel Plc, to exercise patience as he was confident more improvements in the hotel would soon translate into more clients and subsequently more revenues for investors.
In his response, the Chairman of the meeting, Paul Chukwuma Obi, a lawyer and Non-Executive Director who stood in for Capital Hotel Plc Chairman, Ramesh Kansagra, assured shareholders that the noticeable improvement in the fortunes of the hotel was an indication that the new owners of the company were in serious business to bring back the better days.
“The dream of having the company begin to pay dividend to investors will soon come after over years. The management is focussed and committed to continue acquisition of of assets to consolidate and expand our portfolio from oil and gas to the hospitality and estate businesses. A lot of resources are being deployed to revitalise the company and set it on the path of sustainable growth,” he said.
Obi assured shareholders that they would not regret the decision by 22 Hospitality Limited to acquire majority stake in the company and the subsequent change in top management.
” We did same with our acquisition of 60% equity stake of ExxonMobil in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc and today the company and its esteemed shareholders are the better for it.
The share price in the stock market has not only gone up, the infrastructure upgrade in the hotel has created new business opportunities for investments, such as the establishment of an LPG plant, re-entry into the Aviation fuel business, etc.” he said.
He said a similar positive growth in the 11Plc investment would be replicated in Abuja Continental Hotel, as the management and employees were well focussed and committed to stellar service delivery to its customers.
The Chairman allayed fears by some minority shareholders that they would not receive meaningful benefits from their investments, assuring them of prospects for easy exit if they would decide to divest their interests.
Although he said inflation called for caution among shareholders to think properly before divesting, he said the new company has a solid pedigree and capacity to turn things around for its investors.
