Despite an 80 per cent surge in revenue, Corinthia London, a five-star hotel, has seen its profits significantly reduced.
The hotel, situated at the junction of Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall Place, recorded a pre-tax profit of £67,600 for 2024, according to recently filed accounts with Companies House, as reported by City AM.
This is a decrease from the £207,187 pre-tax profit the hotel posted in 2023.
However, over the same period, Corinthia London’s revenue leapt from £4.7m to £8.4m.
The building that houses Corinthia London was originally inaugurated as the Metropole Hotel in 1885 and was acquired by the Ministry of Defence after the Second World War.
It served as government offices until it was sold by Crown Estates in 2007 and transformed into Corinthia London.
The hotel is part of the larger Malta-based group founded by Alfred Pisani.
Corinthia Hotels International also operates locations in Budapest, Prague, St Petersburg, Lisbon, Malta and Tripoli.
In 2024, Corinthia London appointed a new chief executive, chief financial officer, chief people and culture officer, and a new head of development. The company stated these changes affected its 2024 results.
Additionally, through its American subsidiary, it launched a new hotel on New York City’s Upper East Side, which began operations towards the end of 2024.
In April this year, Barclays agreed to lend £192m to the company behind Corinthia London.
The transaction marked the largest loan to the hotel sector by Barclay’s UK Corporate Bank in twenty years.
Corinthia London recently made headlines when the cost of singer Mariah Carey’s bill was revealed following her headline performance at Brighton Pride.
The hotel is a popular choice among Hollywood film studios for launching their new films in the UK.
Recent releases such as The Naked Gun, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Superman and Thunberbolts have all hosted promotional events at the hotel.
Sir Rocco Forte enjoys bumper pay day
The financial results for Corinthia London follow reports from City AM earlier this week that the hotel group founded by Sir Rocco Forte had declared a record dividend for the first full year after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) became a major shareholder.
Rocca Forte Hotels distributed dividends totalling £8.9m for the year ending 30 April, 2025, to its shareholders.
The international hotel group, which has its headquarters in London, is owned by Sir Rocco Forte and 49 per cent by PIF, following a deal that valued it at £1.4bn, announced in December 2023.
Last year’s accounts revealed that the group incurred costs of £16.7m associated with the deal, which affected its pre-tax profits.
However, new results filed with Companies House show that the group’s pre-tax profits rebounded from £15.8m to £25.4m during its most recent financial year.
Its revenue also saw an increase over the same period, rising from £311.9m to £318.3m.
Losses continue at The Ritz
Earlier this year, City AM revealed that the iconic London hotel, The Ritz, had suffered losses exceeding £75m since it last reported a profit.
The hotel registered a pre-tax loss of £10m for 2023, according to accounts filed with Companies House more than five months late.
This figure follows losses of £16.5m in 2022, £32m in 2021 and £27.3m in 2020 reported by The Ritz.
The last time the hotel recorded a pre-tax profit was in 2019, when it achieved £2.4m.
The belatedly submitted accounts for 2023 also indicate that The Ritz’s turnover remained steady at £36m for the year.
The hotel is now anticipated to submit its 2024 accounts by the end of September this year.
However, it has not filed its accounts punctually with Companies House since June 2022.
