Home Inns Q1 Profit Hits RMB 46m, Raises FY Guidance

Home Inns & Hotels Management (Nasdaq:HMIN) made net income of RMB 46.1 million in the first quarter of 2010, or RMB 0.54 per diluted share, compared with net income of RMB 55.2 million in the previous quarter and RMB 452,000 in the year-ago period, the company announced May 12. Total revenues came to RMB 682.9 million, up from RMB 532.21 million in the first quarter of 2009 and down from RMB 699 million in the prior quarter.

Revenues from Home Inns' directly operated hotels was RMB 637.1 million in the quarter, up 27% year-on-year due to an expanded number of hotels, but down 3% sequentially due to seasonally lower occupancy rates in the period. The company's franchised hotels generated RMB 45.8 million in revenues for the quarter, up 50.4% annually and 7.8% sequentially, as a sharper increase in the number of franchised hotels offset the effects of lower occupancy rates, according to the report.

Home Inns opened a net of 22 franchised hotels, bringing its network to 638 hotels by the end of the month, of which 248 were directly operated. The company recorded an overall occupancy rate for the quarter of 90.5%, up from 82.6% in the first three months of 2009 but down from 92.9% the previous quarter. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) came to RMB 144 in the first quarter, compared with RMB 149 in the previous quarter.

Home Inns expects its total revenues in the second quarter of 2010 to be in the range of RMB 790 million to RMB 810 million, representing a 23-26% year-on-year increase, and raised its full year revenue year-on-year growth expectations to 20-24%, from its initial guidance of 18-22%.