Peel Hotels has announced that it is looking for new sites, since clearing its debt by selling the Avon Gorge Hotel.
The company sold the Avon Gorge Hotel in Bristol for £15.5m at the end of August, while its debt was £15.3m. Since then, Peel has acquired two smaller freeholds for £2.35m of the Bull hotel in Peterborough.
Robert Peel, chair, said: “We have shown encouraging progress in the period. The net effect of our asset sales and lease acquisition, apart from a significant capital gain from the former, will be to leave the company totally debt free going forward.”
“The board believes that the company is in a strong position to consider the merits of expansion dependent upon beneficial market conditions.”
The company made the announcements in its interim results for the 28 weeks ended 26 August, which saw operating profit rise 11 per cent to £1.38m and pre-tax profit jump 45 per cent to £755,226.