Scandic’s Dalata Deal Just Got Its First Report Card

Photo Credit: Exterior of Maldron Hotel Derry, Northern Ireland. Dalata Hotel Group Dalata’s hotels fill 80% of their rooms. Scandic’s fill 65%. That gap is a big part of why Scandic paid €500 million (about $555 million) for it, and its third-quarter update on Tuesday, the first since the deal closed, showed what it adds up to: a 24% lift to pro forma earnings per share. Scandic had run Dalata’s 57 hotels in Ireland and the UK under a management agreement for a year before completing the purchase eight days ago. On a pro forma basis, which treats the two companies as if they had been combined for the full 12 months to September 30, the group generated SEK 30.4 billion (about $3.05 billion) in revenue and SEK 3.35 billion (about $336 million) in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), an 11% margin. Pro forma earnings per share, adjusted for new financing costs, came to SEK 6.65 (about $0.67), against SEK 5.35 (about $0.54) for Scandic on its own. “Having worked closely with the busi