The company posted a profit before tax of Rs 73.36 crore in Q4 FY23 compared with pre-tax loss of Rs 39.72 crore in Q4 FY22.

EBITDA zoomed 218.8% to Rs 141.9 crore during the quarter as compared with Rs 44.5 crore posted in same quarter last year. EBITDA margin improved to 55.7% in Q4 FY23 from 35% in Q4 FY22.

On a consolidated basis, the company reported a net profit of Rs 114.56 crore in the year ended March 2023 as against net loss of Rs 87.43 crore posted in the year ended March 2022. Net sales soared 117.30% YoY to Rs 874.09 crore in FY23.

Patanjali Keswani, chairman & managing director said, “As anticipated and in line with our initial guidance, we have more than doubled our total revenue vs FY22 and have maintained more than 50% EBITDA margin for the full year. Q4 FY23 was the best quarter to date, with growth across all metrics. As I had mentioned in the last earnings call, after increasing our ARR by 17% in Q3 vs Q2 FY23, in Q4 we focused on building up occupancy which increased by 604 bps vs Q3 FY23 and by 1,259 bps vs Q4 FY20. Gross ARR stood at Rs. 5,824 which increased by 2% vs Q3 FY23 and by 29% vs Q4 FY20. This translated into an improved RevPAR of Rs. 4,287 which increased by 11% vs Q3 FY23 and by 55% vs Q4 FY20. In Q4 FY23, Lemon Tree Hotel's RevPAR grew 55% whereas the branded hotel industry grew 41% vs Q4 FY20.

The net EBITDA margin for the company in Q4 FY23 was industry-leading at 55.7% which increased by 146 bps vs Q3 FY23 and by 1,926 bps vs Q4 FY20. The PAT for Q4 FY23 stood at Rs. 59 Cr, which increased by 22% vs Q3 FY23. In Q4 FY20, we had a negative PAT of Rs 19 cr. Our cash profit stood at Rs 82.5 cr which increased by 14% vs Q3 FY23 and by 845% vs Q4 FY20. As of 31st March 2023, our gross debt stood at Rs. 1,746 cr and the average cost of borrowings stood at 9.08% while the weighted average cost of borrowing for the full year was 8.38%.

For FY24, I will refrain from giving any specific guidance other than saying that our growth momentum continues and that we will be investing significantly more than normal in renovating our hotels, especially the keys portfolio, to catch-up with the near absence of this during FY21 and FY22. This will increase our operating expenses by a further 2 to 2.5% on revenue basis for this year, but will position our hotels to capture better pricing and demand in H2 and in the following years.”

Lemon Tree Hotels (LTH) is the largest mid-priced hotel sector chain, and the third largest overall, on the basis of controlling interest in owned and leased rooms, as of 30 June 2017, according to the Horwath Report. LTH operates in the mid-market sector, consisting of the upscale, upper midscale, midscale and economy hotel segments and seeks to cater to Indian middle-class guests and deliver differentiated yet superior service offerings, with a value-for-money proposition.

Shares of Lemon Tree were down 1.21% at Rs 94.41 on the BSE.