NCTH gets boost from hotel and retail businesses

The National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels owns InterContinental Abu Dhabi. Jaime Puebla / The National

An increase in income from hotels in the Abu Dhabi emirate and cash from retail operations helped to boost profits at the hotels and catering conglomerate National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels.

The company, which is the owner of the InterContinental Abu Dhabi and of the Cheers beverage store brand, said that net profits for the first half of the year increased 21.7 per cent from the same period in 2012 to Dh61.1 million.

Of that total, Dh4.8m came from the hotels sector and Dh4.7m came from the group's retail services division, said Mohamed Mounib, the chief executive of NCTH, in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Total revenues reached Dh348.3m during the first six months of the year, up 29.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. This was driven by an expansion of the group's 2,550-strong catering division. The unit provides catering and beverage services, camp management and maintenance, cleaning, housekeeping, landscaping and laundry services to 45 sites including oilfield companies, hospitals, and government buildings.

However, costs for the division also increased over the year, pushing the company's overall costs to 74 per cent of revenue. Last year they stood at 69 per cent.

In July, NCTH, which also manages the Sands Hotel and the Al Raha Beach Hotel in Abu Dhabi among a portfolio of 12 hotels inside and outside the UAE, said it planned to increase the number of hotels it operates to 20 by 2015.

The company, which was set up in 1996 to promote Abu Dhabi as a major tourist destination, also has a half share in the National Transport Company, which owns and operates taxis and buses.

It is also a partner in the emirate's Nareel Island Development Company.