Local hotelier – Cresta Marakanelo has confirmed the closure of Golfview Hotel in Lusaka, Zambia. The announcement was made alongside the hospitality group’s full year results published this past week.
In notes accompanying the financials, the Cresta says its directors made the decision not to renew the lease for the Cresta Golfview Hotel which was due to expire on 31 January 2022.
“The Group ceased operations at the hotel on 30 September 2021. The landlord of the property took over the operations of the hotel under a different brand name and hired a majority of the former Cresta staff members”, reads part of the motes.
The BSE quoted hotelier says it has accounted for Cresta Golfview Hotel as a discontinued operation and as such, the hotel’s results are excluded from the results of continuing operations and are presented as a single amount, as a profit or loss after tax from discontinued operations in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income. According to the published financials, the profit from discontinued operations of P3.0 million was primarily from the write back of the hotel lease liability, for the lease that was terminated early, on 30 September 2021, instead of on 31 January 2022
Highlights of Cresta’s latest financials include a 12 percent increase in revenue to P216.4 million (FY 2020: P193.1 million) while the operating loss amounted to P30.8 million (FY 2020: P34.6 million profit). Cresta’s loss for the year was P40.2 million (FY 2020: P63.0 million profit). A further breakdown shows that the group’s basic and diluted loss per share was 22.21 thebe (FY 2020: 34.83 earnings per share). The group’s balance sheet shrunk by 3 percent reaching P522.0 million compared to P537.8 million recorded in 2020.
The latest financials follows a recent announcement by the group that it will be expanding one of its local properties – Mahalapye Cresta by another 64 additional rooms. The development is taking place on a piece of land adjacent to the existing hotel, and the two plots have since been consolidated.
The extended part of the hotel offers 62 additional rooms comprising of 58 standard, two twin rooms, one presidential suite and one paraplegic. Currently the hotel has 64 rooms, will now be spread over 126 rooms.
