EIH Limited (EIHOTEL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

May 26, 2025

National Stock Exchange of India IN Consumer Discretionary Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure earnings 50 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#1

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for attending this virtual meeting. I'm pleased to welcome you on behalf of EIH Limited and SKP Securities to EIH Limited's Q4 FY '25 and Full Year FY '25 Earnings Webinar. With us are Mr. Vikram Oberoi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Vineet Kapur, Chief Financial Officer. Friends, this virtual meeting is being recorded for compliance reasons. And during the discussion, there may be certain forward-looking statements, which must be viewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. We'll have the opening remarks and a presentation by the management, followed by a Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Vikram.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#2

Thank you so much, Navin. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning to all of you, and I apologize that we've kept you waiting for well over 5 minutes, I think. There was a minor correction we needed to make on the presentation. It was really quite minor, but any data that we present, we need to ensure it's accurate. So my very sincere apologies for that. What I really wanted to touch upon before Vineet makes his presentation is the strong financial results we had financial year '24-'25. And this was despite the grand being closed for a good part of the year. Our objective, I've mentioned this a number of times, is to drive our rates higher. And we've done that during the financial year, and we'll continue to do that going forward. I think with strong demand, there's the ability for us, and I presume for the entire industry, to drive rates. I still believe for the quality of hotels that are available in India, both with our hotels and others, we are significantly underpriced, particularly in our city destinations like Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, et cetera. And there's an opportunity certainly for us to drive rates higher given that we have strong demand. And I feel that, that is likely to continue given the significant changes that are taking place in the Indian economy, wealth and affluence increasing, and the desire for quality accommodation, quality hotels that provide exceptional services and experiences to our guests. The last thing I wanted to talk about before I hand over to Vineet was growth. And we, in our last investor call, shared details of the hotels that are under development. This continues to be a strong area of focus for us. And I'm hoping in the coming year, we will have more positive information and details to share with you on driving growth for EIH through owned and managed hotels, including JVs and partnerships. With that, I'll hand over to Vineet for the presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. And again, I apologize, we kept you waiting.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#3

Good morning, everybody. Navin, will you be presenting the presentation?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#4

You need to keep it open in the background and then share your screen. There's a green square box at the bottom of your screen, which says Share. So first, you open the presentation.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#5

Sorry, Navin. We use Teams. So we're not familiar with Zoom as we are with Teams.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#6

Can you see my screen now?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#7

Perfect. If you can just make it full screen, and then presentation mode.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#8

I have just done that. Is it okay now?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#9

Yes, you can just go ahead. Yes.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#10

So what we are going to start with is how the hotel sector is -- how the outlook for the hotel sector is. So we are seeing a significant expansion across the hotel sector.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#11

Can I just interrupt? It's still on Slide -- it hasn't moved to Slide 2 for some reason.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#12

I'm sharing both screens here. Is it fine now?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#13

No, Vineet, we can't see the presentation. You need to share your screen.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#14

Navin, why don't you go and present while I'll make the...

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#15

Do you have it, Navin? Is it possible for you to put it on screen?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#16

Yes. Vineet, you'll need to make me the host again. Click on the participants, and you need to make me the host. Friends, my apologies for this. Just bear with us for a minute, please.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#17

I have done that.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#18

Vineet, can you see the screen?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#19

Yes. We can. Yes, perfect.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#20

So just talking about the Indian hotel sector, we continue to see a...

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#21

Vineet, you've gone on mute.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#22

Can you hear me now?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#23

Yes, Vineet. Please go ahead.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#24

Yes, looking at the Indian hotel sector, we continue to grow and we [Technical Difficulty].

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#25

Yes, now you'll be fine.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#26

The sector is poised for a significant expansion. We are seeing -- the key growth drivers are both special tourism, we are seeing good experiential travel. I think what also is driving the growth is the demand for high-end leisure, which continues to rise and which is supported by very good growth in India's high net worth individuals population. And we'll continue to see the increase coming across the segment, the middle class and upper middle class going on the high-end side and their demand for leisure will be growing. And we also see, as per the government of India's forecast, the inbound tourism is forecasted to grow by roughly 15% in next year, driven by, of course, global connectivity and India's profile, which is bound to improve in the country. Looking at the Q4 market, we saw a healthy increase in air traffic. The air traffic in Q4 grew by roughly 9%, which ultimately helped the overall sector. And we also saw a good healthy occupancy of 68% to 70% in Q4, which was higher than last year by roughly around 1 to 3 basis points. We also saw a good increase in ARR, which saw a healthy increase of 11% to 13% versus FY '24, which also resulted in a good RevPAR increase of 14% to 16% for us. So overall, good increase in RevPAR growth continues. Though we foresee the growth to stabilize, but we saw a good growth happening in Q4. And from a management perspective, we are going to add roughly 21 new hotels in the coming 3 to 4 years, which will help us grow the business as well as meet the needs of the travelers, which is bound to increase. Looking at the operational performance, if we compare the EIH versus the competition, the EIH is maintaining leadership over the comp set in all the 3 parameters, both in MPI, ARI and RGI. And good to see a good increase versus last -- if you compare from December '21, we went from 128% to 131% in RGI, led by both occupancy as well as ARR improved. The same trend continues for the RevPAR. Starting from FY '22, we have seen continuous rise of RevPAR, and we ended up again at a higher level for Q4 in FY '25. We saw the seasonality impact up and down. But when we look at the base over last year, we have done a very healthy growth in RevPAR for both EIH owned hotels as well as our managed hotels across the segment. If you look at the RevPAR growth as compared to the competition, overall industry grew at the rate of 16%, while we grew, our both Oberoi and managed hotels, the RevPAR grew by 22%, helped by Oberoi Hotels, which grew up roughly 24% and Trident was in the same range as our total hotel growth, which was at 22%. Looking at the year-over-year growth, industry showed a healthy growth of 12% on RevPAR. We saw a little higher increase versus the industry, both for owned and managed hotels. We saw a 13% increase, a little higher than the industry, but in line. Oberoi Hotels grew a little higher at 14%, and same for Trident, we grew at 16% on RevPAR. When we look at the Q4 occupancy, both occupancy as well as ARR were higher than last year with the occupancy growing from 81% to 84% for Q4 as a whole. Same thing was the trend for occupancy trends for ARR. We grew both in occupancy as well as ARR for Q4 on a quarterly basis. If I look at RevPAR growth for Q4 by city, there was a healthy growth all across led by Delhi NCR region, good growth in city hotels, Mumbai as well as Bangalore. Except for Bhubaneshwar, where we saw slight downwards due to certain sports events which had happened last year and some events which took place in Bhubaneshwar. Overall, on the international side, we also again saw a very healthy growth, which was roughly around 20% for the quarter. So strong revenue tailwinds. We have seen good tailwinds across most of the segments. All the segments are growing, of course, led by the biggest chunk coming from the direct segment. Corporate segment also has picked up over the last 2 to 3 years, continued with the buoyancy in the corporate world with the business and the GDP growth of India. Same trends we are seeing, leisure, of course, very seasonal going up and down, but still ending up on the higher side towards the end of the year for FY '25. If I look at the financials, we had the strongest, highest ever performance in terms of both revenue, EBITDA and PAT. The revenue grew by 9% year-over-year. We had a growth of 10% on EBITDA, and we had a 44% growth in stand-alone books, driven by onetime impact of Mashobra. But overall, a very good healthy growth for the company on a stand-alone basis. The same continued at a consortium level. We ended up for the year with the highest ever performance, both for EBITDA as well as PAT at a company level. Considering the good performance we have seen over the last couple of years, our cash surplus fund has become more stronger. From negative years in the COVID years, the funds which we have added to our kitty has been pretty strong. We had roughly INR 1,000 crores of surplus funds at the end of March 31, 2025, which gives us a good position for future growth and expansion, which we are looking across the hotel segments. So coming into the financials in detail. If you look on the consolidated side, our revenue grew by 11%. EBITDA grew by 13% year-over-year. The PAT at a consol level only grew by 6%, where we had some exceptional items in the current year due to impacts taken for Grand as well as Tirupati. We had a few negative impacts for the current year, which resulted in PAT growth of 6% year-over-year. The same thing, if you look at on a consolidated basis for the year, we grew at 10% on a revenue basis. Expenditure grew, or I would say, EBITDA grew by 11%, healthy drop-through to the bottom line. And looking at the profit and loss, the PAT, we grew at 14%, a small impact because of exceptional items, which came in. But even with those exceptional items, we ended the year with a PAT growth of 14% for the year. On a stand-alone basis, Q4, the growth was roughly 9%. Good drop-through in EBITDA, resulting in an increase of 12% year-over-year. We had one bigger exceptional item. This was on account of Mashobra impact where we deconsolidated the Mashobra books considering we have given the control back to the government. Due to that, we had a onetime impact, exceptional gain of INR 115 crores, which came in the books for quarter 4, resulting in 109% increase over last year in PAT. The same thing, I look at stand-alone basis on 12 months, overall revenue increase of 9% with a drop-through in EBITDA at roughly growth of 10% for the year. PAT grew at 44%, again, because of the one exceptional gain because of Mashobra deconsolidation, which we had in our books for the current year. So looking at the awards, Oberoi Group keeps on getting good awards and accolades all across because of the exceptional customer service that provides to all its customers. So notable ones are listed here where we got awards from Travel and Leisure USA, as well as Conde Nast Traveler, where they rated most of the hotels as one of the best in the categories. So coming on the expansion plans, we have a very healthy pipeline of growth coming across various segments. We have 21 properties with almost 1,500 keys going to be added in the next 2 to 3 years. Out of this, domestic, we are going to add roughly 12 hotels. In international, there will be addition of 9 hotels all across our group. Just the business footprint. We are at 3,700 keys in India total with almost 500 keys across in different international geographies, totaling to roughly 4,200 keys, with roughly 1,400 to 1,500 keys coming in the next 3 to 4 years, which will be added to the group total of number of keys. That's it from us. Thank you. We are open for questions.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#27

[Operator Instructions] Friends, we now open the floor for the Q&A session. We'll take the first question from Priyanka Verma. Priyanka, please go ahead. Yes, there's some audio issue. We'll come back to Priyanka. We'll take a question from Amit Agarwal. Amit, please go ahead. We'll take the next question from Saket Mehrotra. Saket?

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#28

Yes. Am I audible?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#29

Yes, you are. Please go ahead.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#30

A couple of questions. First, could you tell us how your international business was for the full year? And in terms of what was the contribution of your holdco into the total consolidated earnings for the company?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#31

So if I look at the international category, roughly on revenue side, we had a contribution to the revenue around INR 131 crores and with an EBITDA contribution of INR 36 crores -- INR 36 crores in EBITDA. The growth, we had roughly 10% growth in terms of revenue and similar growth in EBITDA from our international category. This was part of what constitutes part of our consolidated numbers. We also had good impact -- good benefit coming from our nonconsolidated entities. Marrakesh had a good number for the year, as well as we had good set of numbers coming from our operations in Mauritius.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#32

Okay. So if I look at EIH International as an entity, I believe the contribution of these entities to your PAT last year was roughly around INR 88-odd crores as you mentioned in the annual report. So could you quantify that number for this year?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#33

On PAT, the numbers I have is different, so maybe I'll come back to you on this.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#34

Okay. A couple of housekeeping questions from your notes. I mean, if I go to Note 7, where you've mentioned about Mashobra's derecognition and recognition. So if I understand correctly, we expect to recover around INR 136 crores. Is that the correct understanding? Or is it going to be INR 136 crores plus the INR 290 crores, which we've classified as held for sale? I just wanted some clarity on this.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#35

So INR 136 crores is the advance against equity, which was put in Mashobra that we foresee to recover. On top of that, the value of Mashobra book value, which was roughly INR 141 crores, is what we consider as recoverable based on the outcome of the current litigation. which will be decided in the coming months.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#36

Okay. And if I look at the net asset value, which is about INR 290 crores, that is something which will get realized? Or I mean, how does this work out? Or is the INR 140 crores included in this INR 290 crores, like your INR 320 crores net assets and your INR 31 crores of liabilities?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#37

So the book value what we have taken for Mashobra is roughly around INR 141 crores. There are a couple of other things which will be part of that number, what you're mentioning. And we foresee to recover the book value based on the court proceedings.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#38

And what would be the quantum of, let's say, the legal cost savings, because now, I guess, would that still continue? Or will this be something that will get saved as we move forward from subsequent years.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#39

I would say till the time the court proceedings are going on, till that time that legal expenses will continue to occur. As soon as the hearing is decided and judgment is made, we'll see the course on that account later on.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#40

Okay. Just one final question. The investment in the London subsidiary, which is about INR 240-odd crores, has this been committed? Or like do we still have more funds that are going to get infused into this business?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#41

So there will be some additional requirement which will come through, but most of the investment at least for current year this year is done. I think there will be some few additions which we made towards the end of this year, but not a sizable one.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#42

Okay. And strategically, as a company, how are we looking at this international business? Like if you could throw some light on that for this year? I mean, we're already second month into this financial year. So if you could tell us how the offtake has been and what is your outlook for this year, that will be great.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#43

Maybe I'll speak and then you can. So considering the current performance and what we have seen over last year, our international performance, especially in the Middle East, got impacted by the conflict in Israel-Palestine, which is sort of stable now, and we are seeing good progress happening across the hotels what we have in the Middle East. So we are seeing some good trends. And I would say that hopefully that will be helpful for the current year. Vikram?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#44

Yes. I think for the current year, we've seen growth over last year internationally as well. I think demand continues to be strong. That's reflected both in Marrakesh and Mauritius.

Saket Mehrotra

analyst
#45

And I believe on the domestic front, Mr. Oberoi, we are quite comfortable, I believe, given what we've achieved in Q4. I believe this trend is something that you foresee continuing? Do you see any headwinds in that?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#46

Let me just come back to a couple of other things, and then I'll answer that part of your question as well. In London, our long-term objective is to get a partner at 49%. And obviously, the closer we do that to the hotel opening, the lower the risk and therefore, the better the contribution from our partner to that 49%. So I just wanted to mention that to you. That is our endeavor. And then talking about India, we continue to see strong demand this financial year as well. There was some impact because of the conflict between India and Pakistan, but that's since stabilized. We've seen a strong pace returning. There was roughly a 10% impact for the last month, for the month of March -- sorry, May. And in June, we are seeing a bounce back and positive pace of reservations over the same time last year. So I think that's been hopefully addressed and nullified. And Saket, please, Vikram. I'd be much happy if you address me as Vikram, but whatever you're comfortable with.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#47

We'll take the next question from Amit Agarwal.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#48

Is it okay now?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#49

Yes, you're audible.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#50

My question is regarding Wildflower, sir. I imagine that we are managing this hotel for the next 3 months.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#51

Actually, it's next 6 months or till the bidding process is concluded. So...

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#52

Are we eligible for bidding for the hotel? And how keen we are for bidding for that particular hotel?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#53

We absolutely are keen, yes.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#54

How much revenue we are going to lose because of that hotel business going out of our total turnover this year?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#55

Could you give the exact number? Is it okay to disclose that number?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#56

So current year, just to add, we had a revenue of INR 78 crores on account of Mashobra.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#57

For the year?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#58

For last year, FY '25, we roughly did INR 78 crores revenue.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#59

Okay. And my last question is regarding flight catering business. Sir, what is the turnover we are getting for the flight catering business? And how much is Mumbai Airport Lounges contributing? And is there any progress on the renewal of the lounge business?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#60

So Amit, no, the lounge business has been concluded. That concluded at the end of the financial year. So the lounge business is no longer there. In fact, it was supposed to end sooner. It was supposed to end halfway through last financial year, and then there was an extension, which was received for 2 consecutive quarters. So as of 31st March, that business has been concluded. The numbers, Vineet will just give you.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#61

And is there any chance of renewal of that business? And how much revenue have we lost?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#62

No, there is no chance of renewal of that business. And I think if you just look at what's happening with Mumbai Airport, it's all been consolidated with the hotel operator. And that's part of their overall strategy. So I don't want to comment on that. But no, to answer your question, that business will not be concluding, but we see strong demand for the airline catering business. And I hope we can offset most of that in this financial year. That's going to be our endeavor to compensate for the loss of lounge business through buoyancy and increased business for the flight catering business.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#63

Can you throw some numbers how much we are going to lose and how much is the flight catering business right now?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#64

Sure. So total amount of the business what we did last year was around INR 122 crores. And without giving further breakdown, our total OFS and OAS business for us was roughly INR 490 crores.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#65

Sorry, come again?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#66

INR 490 crores.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#67

INR 490 crores.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#68

And do you intend to stay in airport lounge business? Or that was just one-off?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#69

That was a one-off.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#70

And can you give the breakup of domestic flight business compared to international?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#71

Amit, I don't have those details with me. So I unfortunately can't give you that breakup right now.

Amit Agarwal

analyst
#72

Because I'm worried that if Turkey flights go out of the picture, then we might lose that business also.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#73

May I just comment on an overall? Amit, I just want to repeat what I said. We see strong demand for our airline business. We've been able to -- or we continue to add flights to the business, both domestic and international. And we will do our utmost to compensate for the loss of the airport services business.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#74

We'll take the next question from Deepak Verma. Deepak, please go ahead. Let's just take the next question while he fixes it. We'll take the next question from Rajiv Bharati.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#75

So with regard to -- so I thought that the lounge was -- the contract was supposed to end by Q3 end. So you're saying that for the entire year we ran the lounge?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#76

That's correct.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#77

That's correct.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#78

Okay, perfect. Okay. And on the Kolkata business, so what is the impact for the quarter? I understand that INR 110 crores is the revenue last year. So what is the impact here?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#79

So for the year, the impact is roughly -- and Vineet can give you the exact number, but it's roughly INR 70 crores on revenue and INR 43 crores EBITDA.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#80

Correct.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#81

Perfect. Sir, on the F&B side, if you can, for the quarter and for the year, how has been the F&B growth?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#82

We don't disclose those figures.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#83

And lastly, on the CapEx side. So I can see that INR 480 crores on the consol and INR 270 crores on stand-alone. Can you break that up then where is this CapEx essentially going?

Vineet Kapur

executive
#84

The amount also includes the investments made in Oberoi London. And we have spent CapEx on our Rajgarh property, which is going to come up very soon. We also had invested a quite significant amount in renovation in Trident, Nariman Point, which was 4 floors renovation. Also, we had done long-stay apartments in Oberoi Mumbai, which impacted -- which was part of that CapEx what we did last year, including some amounts on Oberoi Goa, which is already being done and also on Oberoi Grand, which is closed for major renovation.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#85

Just one follow-up on the Bombay asset. What is the room count which we have -- like-for-like addition was there in Q4?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#86

So the total number of keys at Trident, Nariman Point are 585 and the total number of keys at the Oberoi Bombay are 237.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#87

We'll take the next question from Deepak. Deepak, please go ahead. We'll take the next question from Vaibhav Bule.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#88

Navin, can you hear me?

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#89

Yes, I can. Please go ahead.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#90

Okay. Perfect. Vikram congratulations on a strong set of numbers. I had a few questions on your pipeline. So you mentioned that most of your owned hotels portfolio will be coming online in FY '28 and FY '29. So till then, your major dependency will be on growth via increasing room rates and occupancy. So any plans of exploring any inorganic acquisition opportunities to protect yourself in case of muted growth in room rates over the next 2 years?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#91

So Vaibhav, let me answer the question in 2 parts. The first part is on -- I'll take the second part first, which is that if demand continues to be as it is today, our endeavor will be to drive rates up to the largest extent possible. And even if that is at the cost of occupancy as long as our RevPAR sees strong growth. And I don't see any reason why that will change all things that we know today. So that was the second part of your question. If I may now answer the first part, we are absolutely open to looking at other all options for growth, which will include brownfield or acquisition.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#92

We'll take the next question from Jaiprakash Toshniwal.

Jaiprakash Toshniwal

analyst
#93

One question. When we are saying there are a few drags because of the recent businesses which we have either discontinued or we didn't continue, we are also hitting occupancy almost 84%, 85%, and RevPAR growth of, let's say, lower double-digit numbers. So in that context, how do you see the growth at least for the next year, because we're also not getting much of the room addition at least in the current calendar year. So just your comment on this, please?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#94

No, Jaiprakash, I think I've covered this before. And this is my firm belief, and you can go online and see top hotels around the world in key cities. We're still really, really underpriced in my view. And that's my view. You may or may not share that view. To get a hotel in a major city today, a good hotel can cost $1,000 upwards per night. So I think we are significantly below that threshold. And if I then combine that with the quality of hotels we have in India, in our key cities, I think there's tremendous opportunity for upside in ARR. Today, I am of the firm view that we are significantly underpriced when you look at how we perform on rates globally.

Jaiprakash Toshniwal

analyst
#95

Okay. And while you mentioned -- I mean, you've been mentioning on the pricing point on various platforms, sir. But just to continue, in which brand do you see the gap really reducing faster? Is it Oberoi brand hotels or Trident hotels?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#96

My personal opinion is that we will have more opportunity to drive ARR growth within Oberoi. But if you saw the figures in the investor call, actually, Trident did slightly better on RevPAR growth. But my belief is that with strong demand, with everything that's happening in India over the medium to long term, we'll be able to drive greater premiums in Oberoi.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#97

We'll take the next question from Sanjay Kohli.

Sanjay Kohli

analyst
#98

Mr. Oberoi, I had 2 questions. One is on spiritual destinations. We've seen quite a bit of robust pricing over there. How do you view the sustainability in these spiritual destinations? And my second question is, this is on the F&B side, do we see an opportunity in leveraging our restaurant spaces within the properties to drive F&B growth, including the possibility to outsource to focused brands?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#99

Sure. Sanjay, I'll take your first question on sustainability. And I'd like to believe it's not only EIH or Oberoi and Trident, but I'd like to believe that all the well-known brands in India, whether I take Taj or Leela or us for that matter with Oberoi and Trident, have a strong focus on sustainability. And this is disclosed in our annual reports. I believe that will now also be available with Neil and with ITC. So I think as organizations, we want to be responsible organizations and do the right thing. And certainly, at EIH, we're committed to doing that. So...

Sanjay Kohli

analyst
#100

Mr. Oberoi, can I interrupt?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#101

Sure.

Sanjay Kohli

analyst
#102

What I meant was sustainable prices. Are prices sustainable in the spiritual destinations?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#103

Okay. Sorry, I thought you were talking about sustainability as in CSR. I beg your pardon. Sanjay, prices are a function of supply and demand. And with religious tourism being so embedded in our culture as Indians, I think there will always be strong demand. And therefore, I think prices will remain buoyant in those destinations. We're, through one of our JV companies, Mumtaz, are doing a hotel in Tirupati. And our projections for that are also strong in terms of ARR and occupancy and therefore, RevPAR and profitability.

Sanjay Kohli

analyst
#104

And for the time being, it's just going to be the one in Tirupati for the next couple of years?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#105

Let me rephrase that question, or let me reanswer that question. For the time being, as of now, it's just Tirupati, yes. And your question on food and beverage. We partner with celebrity chefs, whether that's our Chinese restaurant at the Oberoi, New Delhi, or it's our Indian restaurants across multiple locations, we partner with well-known chefs for our cuisine in restaurants, and we will continue to do that.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#106

We take the next question from Deepak Verma. Deepak, please unmute yourself and go ahead. I guess, Deepak is having some issue with his audio. He sent a question on the Q&A board. Vikram, may I take this?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#107

Yes, sure. If you could just -- I can't see it, Navin. So yes...

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#108

Can we please have a short narrative on the Wildflower Hall case? Also what financial impact is expected, both on capital assets and income statement in FY '25, FY '26 and FY '27? Shall I repeat it?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#109

No, that's fine. I mean the way I'd like answer, and perhaps Vineet may want to add to it, but we've made all our disclosures on Wildflower Hall, and that is available in the public domain and I'd encourage you to read that.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#110

And I think from a financial perspective, we have taken the hotel on operational management basis for 6 months. So we will -- there will be some income on account of that, which will be coming through. Other than that, on major financial impact, that will be based on the court proceedings and the judgment.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#111

Deepak, I hope your question has been answered. Okay. There's another question on the Q&A board from an anonymous attendee. May I?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#112

Yes, please, Navin.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#113

Revenue growth lower than RevPAR, mainly due to Kolkata overall closure. When is it reopening? Second, how are the bookings from foreign tourists in FY '25 versus pre-COVID, a ballpark number? Have they started coming back or still preferring other locations?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#114

So I'll take the second part first. We closed last financial year where we still hadn't reached across all our owned and managed hotels pre-pandemic levels for foreign business. I hope this year, all going well, we will meet, if not exceed that number. So that's as far as foreign business returning to levels of pre-pandemic proportions. As far as the Oberoi Grand is concerned, the plan is to -- the renovation was for 18 months. We're already 6 months through that. So we'll open in about 12 months from now. And that will be a partial opening. It's a 2-phased renovation.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#115

Rajiv, do you have a follow-up question? Your hand is raised.

Rajiv Bharati

analyst
#116

No, sorry, sorry.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#117

Amit, do you have a follow-up question? Amit Agarwal? I guess not. Sanjay Kohli, your hand is raised, too, in case you do have a follow-up question? Friends, anyone else with a question, I request you to please raise your hand and we'll take it up. Okay. There's a question from Dheeraj Manwani.

Dheeraj Manwani

analyst
#118

Yes. Sir, just wanted to understand our major expand -- what we are expanding, the new hotels are coming, among around 20, 21, 9 are in international destinations. So are we looking more towards international destinations?

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#119

Dheeraj, actually, no. I'd say our focus should and will be towards Indian and the Indian subcontinent.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#120

[Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions, I would like to hand over the webinar back to Vikram for his closing remarks.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#121

Thank you, Navin, and ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again. And I really apologize to keep you waiting this morning. And I know some of you had questions. I hope, you were -- we had trouble listening to some people, that the voice wasn't coming through, but I hope we were able to answer your questions. And we thank you for your support. We remain committed to providing the highest levels of service to our guests. We're extremely grateful to our colleagues who do so much every day to look after our guests. And with that and a strong foundation in India, we see the hotels performance to be strong. Also as far as the airline business, we see tremendous opportunity there as well with increased flights taking place and increased travel. So we remain optimistic about the future for the tourism sector and for Oberoi and Trident hotels more specifically.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#122

Thank you, Vikram. Friends, I've shared my e-mail ID on the invite. In case there are any follow-up questions or there is something else, please write to me and we'll take it up with the management. On behalf of all of us at SKP Securities, thank you, Mr. Oberoi, thank you, Mr. Kapur, for taking time out to interact with the investors, and we look forward to hosting you again for the next quarterly webinar.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#123

Navin, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Navin Agarwal

analyst
#124

My pleasure. Thank you, bye-bye, and have a lovely day.

Vikramjit Oberoi

executive
#125

Bye.

Vineet Kapur

executive
#126

Thank you.

For developers and AI pipelines

Programmatic access to EIH Limited earnings transcripts and 32,000+ others is available through the EarningsCalls.dev REST API. Plans from $24.99/month — full transcripts, speaker segments, full-text search, and the recently-added /api/v1/transcripts/recent polling endpoint for ETL pipelines.