M&C REMAINS BULLISH ON THE LONGER TERM OUTLOOK IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

‘Strategic review’ to boost efficiency completed.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), the hotel arm of Hong Leong Group Singapore, has just completed a strategic review of its operations and is gearing itself to remain competitive in the midst of a challenging trading environment in Singapore and the region.

“Overall our group remains bullish on the hospitality industry here. Our hotels have been outperforming the market in the first half of the year and are in better shape than last year. Singapore is in a cyclical economic downturn but we expect a re-bound for our hotels in the 4th quarter of 2001,” said Mr. Bill Barnett, Chief Operating Officer (Asia Pacific) who is based in its corporate office in Singapore.

M&C is taking a long-term view of the situation instead of allowing the threat of an economic downturn to affect them. Renovations of its properties in Singapore including the Copthorne King’s and the Orchard wing of the Orchard Hotel are moving ahead. This follows the completion of its S$30 million total refurbishment of the Copthorne Harbour View Hotel. “With no significant increase in the supply of hotels in Singapore, we hope to buck the down trend and take this opportunity to improve our products,” added the recently appointed COO, Mr. Barnett.

The corporate office will soon be relocating to the King’s Center next to its Singapore flagship property, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, to create greater working efficiencies and synergies afforded by the group’s five hotels in Singapore. As a result, some positions will be merged with those at property level. Every effort is being made to place the affected staff with other sister companies within the Hong Leong Group.

“This exercise will result in a more streamlined structure. Most hotel corporate offices in this region are located at or near their respective flagship hotels. We intend to develop the Grand Copthorne Waterfront as the group’s core product in Asia Pacific. Relocating next to it will help us in this effort, he added.

Notes:

Millennium & Copthorne International Limited (M&C) is part of the Singapore-based Hong Leong Group. Ranked as Asia’s largest hotel group, its hotel division, Millennium Hotels & Resorts, has a stable of 105 hotels in 14 countries. Sixteen of these hotels are managed by sister subsidiary company, City e-Solutions Limited (CES).

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, ranks 23rd among the largest hotel owners and operators in the world and is Singapore’s largest international hotel group. The majority of its hotels operate under the ‘Millennium’ and ‘Copthorne’ brands. ‘Millennium’ is a 4-star deluxe chain with 25 hotels (including the 12 rebranded US Regal hotels). ‘Copthorne’ comprises 4-star business-style hotels. Together, these brands offer both business and leisure travellers a full range of corporate, conferencing, banqueting and leisure facilities in properties situated in major gateway cities throughout the UK, continental Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Group also owns several chain-managed hotels including the Seoul Hilton, Grand Hyatt Taipei, The Regent in Kuala Lumpur, Nikko Hotel and JW Marriott in Hong Kong, Orchard Hotel Singapore, The Heritage Hotel Manila, and The Plaza and Millenium Hilton in New York.