Executives at PPHE Hotel Group said they are seeing definite signs of recovery in the second half of 2021 and are moving ahead with construction and openings to the firm’s Hotel Brioni in Pula, Croatia, and two major hotels in London.

Its 12 United Kingdom properties will reopen May 17. It's a date PPHE executives said cannot come too soon if the firm’s first-quarter 2021 earnings published on Apr. 29 are a guide.

During the earnings conference call, executives said the results show the full extent of the effects of the pandemic. This is evident especially when comparing the first three months of 2020 — when the pandemic was only declared at the end of the quarter — with the first three months of 2021, in which most European countries declared a lockdown that lasted for more than the 90 days of the quarter.

PPHE is a Guernsey, Channel Islands-based company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It also has a controlling ownership interest in Arena Hospitality Group, the shares of which are listed on the Zagreb, Croatia, Stock Exchange.

The company also has a strategic partnership with Radisson Hotels & Resorts to develop its wholly owned Park Plaza brand in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Its other brands, notably Art’otel, are in-house ones.

With little revenue coming in, the firm has made efforts to retain liquidity.

PPHE President and CEO Boris Ivesha said the firm had 168.9 million pounds sterling ($238.1 million) in cash available at the end of the quarter. That figure is down from 197.6 million pounds sterling at the end of the full year 2020.

The cash in hand now consists of a consolidated cash position of 99.9 million pounds sterling, he said. The company also has access to undrawn facilities of 69 million pounds sterling.

Two factors point to renewed confidence, Ivesha said.

The first is that across its United Kingdom properties, “domestic leisure and meetings and events demand for the second half of the year is encouraging,” he said.

The second is its pipeline. PPHE’s portfolio, valued in December 2020 at 1.7 billion pounds sterling, comprises 46 hotels and approximately 8,000 rooms in six countries, among other assets.

Two major hotels in construction are Art’otel London Hoxton, set to open in 2024, and Art’otel London Battersea Power Station, opening in 2022.

PPHE secured for The Art’otel London Hoxton a 180 million pound sterling construction facility. Part of a mixed-use development, the 27-floor hotel will have 343 rooms, including 60 extended-stay apartments.

The 164-room Art’otel London Battersea Power Station is part of another regeneration scheme, a makeover of the Grade II-listed former power station along the River Thames made famous by rock band Pink Floyd by featuring it and an inflatable pink pig on its LP “Animals.”

PPHE also owns two development sites in London. The first, adjacent to its hotel Park Plaza London Park Royal, is penciled in for a 300,000-square-foot mixed-use scheme that has permission to construct a 465-room hotel. For the second, the firm has submitted a planning application for a 186-room hotel on Westminster Bridge Road.

In February, the firm announced the appointment of Jon Colley, new vice president of acquisitions and developments.

In the first three months of 2020, PPHE saw occupancy of 58.5%, which slumped during the first quarter of 2021 to 7.1%.

Average daily rate for that same period fell 36.7% to 72.90 pounds sterling, while revenue per available room fell 92.3% to 5.20 pounds sterling.

Total room revenue for the first quarter amounted to only 2.6 million pounds sterling, down 92.5% from the same period in 2020. Total revenue dropped 89.6% to 5.3 million pounds sterling.

The group did see a pickup in business during the first easing of restrictions in summer 2020, with leisure travelers in dominance.

As of press time, PPHE's stock was trading at 17.50 pound sterling per share, up 26.8% year to date. The London Stock Exchange FTSE was down 20.4% for the same period.