The Abu Dhabi National Hotels (ADNH), a leading hotel, tourism, transport and catering company in the UAE, plans to increase the company's capital from Dh720 million ($196 million) to Dh1 billion ($272 million) by issuing bonus shares.

The company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held this week unanimously approved the proposal, said a statement.

The meeting, held at the Abu Dhabi Sheraton Hotel and Resort, also approved a proposal to pay cash dividend of 20 per cent for 2007.

The board also approved the shareholders' proposal to increase the number of board members from eight to nine.

The board includes: Saif Mohammed Al Hajeri as chairman, Ahmed Khalaf Al Otaiba as vice chairman; Shiekh Ahmed Mohammed bin Sultan Suroor Al Dhaheri; Mohammed Thaloob Al Diree; Hamad Abdullah Al Shamsi; Hamad bin Kardoos Al Ameri; Alaa Oraikat; Khamis Mohammed Buharoon and Khalid Hajji Abdulla Khoori. 

Al Hajeri praised the company’s performance and financial results for 2007.

He noted that ADNH earned operating profits of Dh460 million on revenues of Dh1.321 billion, an increase of over 23.3 percent and 10.5 percent respectively over 2006.

"The net profit has increased from Dh292.5 million in 2006 to Dh471.7 million, a sharp growth of 61.2 per cent. This is largely due to the increase of non-operational income from Dh27.2 million in 2006 to Dh124 million in 2007," he explained.

Al Hajeri said: "The excellent results for 2007 reflect the ongoing economic and tourism development in the UAE in general, and in Abu Dhabi in particular, and reaffirms the high confidence in the national economy. In 2007, room occupancy rate increased by 27.3 per cent compared to 2006, owing to many factors notably the success of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority's strategy to promote and develop tourism."

The hotel division led the growth in profits with a 37.4 per cent increase to Dh323.4 million from Dh235.4 million in 2006.  The catering and contract services achieved a 7.4 per cent increase in profits to Dh51.7 million compared with Dh48.1 million in 2006, followed by the transport services which showed an increase of 6 per cent with net profit of Dh6 million in 2007 compared with Dh5.6 million in 2006. 

During 2007, ADNH signed a contract to manage JW Marriot Hotel and Resort, the first Marriott property in Abu Dhabi. The year also saw the completion of the main stages of construction of the 450-room Sofitel Jumairah Hotel in Dubai, which is due to open in 2008. 

The chairman noted that ADNH is part of the ambitious plans to develop Saadiyat Island and Capital City (at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre).  – TradeArabia News Service