The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited – HSH announce First Quarter 2022

Hong Kong – At its Annual General Meeting held today, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH) disclosed its unaudited first quarter operating statistics for 2022.

Commenting on the year-to-date results, HSH Deputy Chairman Andrew Brandler said, ‘In the first quarter of 2022, we are beginning to see a mild recovery in some of our operations around the world. We are encouraged by the fast recovery in our US hotel properties and also in Paris. The outlook for our US hotels is strong for the next few months and we are beginning to see gradual improvements in the rest of Asia where borders have opened up, such as Manila and Bangkok.

‘However, the stringent social distancing measures in Hong Kong have meant that our home market was still suffering immensely in the first quarter. Unfortunately, we are also seeing a negative impact from the lockdowns imposed in the Chinese mainland, particularly in Shanghai and to a lesser extent in Beijing. On the commercial property side in Hong Kong, rents continued to come under pressure in the luxury retail market, and while office leasing is stable, residential leasing is uncertain.

‘Our group’s overall financial position remains healthy. We came into this crisis with low gearing and considerable liquidity, and together with prudent actions to manage our costs, we have sufficient resources to cover our operating cash requirements.’

The Peninsula Hotels

The hotels division reported mixed results, with a pleasing recovery in the US and Paris and a gradual improvement in Manila and Bangkok. We were pleased to see some international travellers returning to The Peninsula Tokyo in March. However, the business environment remains challenging in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, although with the gradual relaxation of restrictions in Hong Kong we are cautiously optimistic for the second half of the year.

Commercial Properties

Residential Leasing: Occupancy at The Repulse Bay Complex improved slightly year-on-year to 83%. Rents in the luxury sector in Hong Kong remained under pressure and the outlook is uncertain for the rest of the year.

Shopping Arcades: The shopping arcades in The Peninsula Hotels, The Peak Tower and The Repulse Bay have been negatively impacted by the difficult environment and yield declined slightly year-on-year. We have renovated the retail arcade at The Peninsula Hong Kong to include a variety of high-end lifestyle amenities and eclectic food and beverage outlets.

Offices: Yield from the group’s office leasing has remained stable over the same period last year with occupancy stable at 97%.

Outlook and Developments

As a company with a long-term focus, our priority is to maintain a strong financial position for the group in order to fund our significant capital commitments for The Peninsula London and The Peninsula Istanbul hotel projects, as well as the Peak Tram upgrade project which is expected to launch in summer 2022. Due to the unfortunate situation in Myanmar, we have agreed with our partners to stop all work at The Peninsula Yangon. We will continue to monitor the situation in Myanmar. Our commitment to the long-term development of the group and in particular The Peninsula…