Mauritius Lux Island Resorts' annual pretax profit jumps 21 pct

PORT LOUIS - 28 August 2017: Mauritius hotels group Lux Island Resorts reported a 21.1 percent jump in pretax profit for the year ended June, benefiting from a rise in visitors to the island and the sale and lease back of one of its resorts.

European visitors are the luxury hotel group’s main source of income. It said it benefited as tourist arrivals from Europe to the island as a whole rose 9 percent in the year through June.

Lux announced a pretax profit of 582.85 million rupees ($17.8 million) for the financial year, up from 480.93 million rupees a year earlier.

Tourism is a major source of foreign currency for the Indian Ocean island known for its luxury spas and beaches.

“Our ambition within the next three years is to at least double both the number of hotels managed, as well as the key regions where LUX* will be present,” the company said in a statement.

“To date, our pipeline of third-party hotel management contracts includes six in China, one in Southeast Asia, one in the Indian Ocean, one in the Middle East, and two in Europe/ Eastern Mediterranean,” it said.

The group’s revenue in the year to June increased to 5.43 billion rupees from 5.15 billion rupees. Earnings per share rose to 3.75 rupees from 3.06 rupees.

Lux said that for the first quarter of the current financial year that began in July, it expects good growth on last year across all properties.