Hotels outlook bright despite disasters

By SIMON HENDERY

The country's largest hotel group remains unsure of the effect the Sars virus will have on its business.

At CDL Hotels' annual meeting in Auckland yesterday, chairman John Wilson told about 80 shareholders that the group was encouraged by the recovery of the New Zealand hotel market from the slump which followed the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.

"However, the impact of the Sars epidemic to our New Zealand and Australian business is still being evaluated and is difficult to predict."

CDL owns and operates the country's Millennium, Copthorne and Quality Hotel chains and employs 2400 staff.

Wilson, the chief executive of London-based Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, said that in his many years in the industry he had never seen a run of bad events such as the series which started in 2001 with Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis, and was followed by the global economic downturn, the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Sars.

"All I need now is a plague of locusts," he said.

But he said CDL's board remained positive about the long-term growth prospects for the group, which includes listed subsidiaries CDL Investments and Kingsgate International. "Barring unforeseen circumstances, the board expects another profitable year."

Verbal sparring between Wilson and the Shareholders Association has become an annual tradition, and it continued yesterday. Association stalwarts Bruce Sheppard and Oliver Saint attempted to grill the board over several issues.

Sheppard asked Wilson if another profitable year meant an improvement in profit "or something greater than zero?"

Wilson's answer was less than illuminating, but Saint's attempt to prod him for more information by pointing out that he had just repeated his earlier statement was unsuccessful.

Wilson's reply - "I can't answer, you see, because that was a statement, not a question" - drew laughter.

Sheppard later offered to move the standard motion to re-elect Wilson to the board "on the basis that he understands the difference between a question and a statement".

The vote to return Wilson was unanimous.