Gulf Hotels Group’s 50th Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 15th April 2020 at 12:00 pm via zoom online video conferencing platform, organized by Bahrain Clear. The meeting was presided over by the Chairman, Mr. Farouk Yousuf Almoayyed, and attended by the Board Members and representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Central Bank of Bahrain, Bahrain Bourse and Auditors KPMG.
The Chairman announced that for the year ended 31st December 2019, GHG achieved a total Gross Operating Revenue of BD 38,570 Million compared to BD 35.111 Million in 2018, an increase of BD 3.459 Million or 9.85%. The Group generated a Net Profit of BD 5.950 Million in comparison with BD 6.922 Million in 2018 recording a decrease of BD 971K or 14%.
Chairman, Mr. Farouk Almoayyed, commented that the market in Bahrain had shown signs of improvement and all the Group’s Bahrain based hotels had performed better than in 2018, however trading conditions in the Dubai market were extremely challenging.
Commenting on the current COVID-19 outbreak, Mr. Almoayyed stated that “local and international travel restrictions are weighing heavy on the hospitality sector, with little or no business travel or leisure guests to generate occupancy in hotels. Additionally, the closure of restaurants and other outlets is having a major impact on revenues and whilst we value the social and economic initiatives announced by the Government and the authorities’ extensive efforts, I call on them to consider significant additional support for hotels and restaurants that are so badly hit by the crisis and will remain impacted for many months to come”.
Group CEO Garfield Jones stated that “The Gulf Hotel has completed the renovation of Fusions restaurant and relaunched the outlet under the supervision of talented Bahraini chef, Tala Bashmi. ‘Fusions by Tala’ also features a stunning outdoor terrace overlooking Manama and whilst the outlet opened prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, a second reopening is planned once current restrictions are lifted”.
He further commented that “The Group has signed a JV agreement with Gulf Air Group Holding to develop the new transit hotel at Bahrain International Airport. Work on the 84-unit property is in full flow and expected to open for business in Q3 2020”.
Since the COVID outbreak, the Group is relentlessly mitigating the business and health risks, applying dynamic and proactive measures to maintain the business sustainability, to safeguard our employees and to ensure that we don’t link the expansion cycle.