By Praveen Paramasivam and Nathan Gomes
PANAJI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - India's Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts LEEA.NS is betting that a tight supply of luxury hotel rooms and rising demand from wealthy travellers will drive revenue and earnings growth in fiscal 2027, its chief executive said.
Consumer spending in India has become more uneven, with affluent buyers continuing to splurge even as broader consumption remains under pressure, boosting sales at jewellers, whisky makers and luxury hotel chains.
Brookfield Asset Management-backed BAM.TO Leela has 23 hotels across India, including properties under development, and plans to expand to at least 35 hotels over the next five to seven years, though it has not set a firm target for launch timeline.
"We are at just a point of inflection of a multi-decade growth story in luxury consumption," CEO Anuraag Bhatnagar said in an interview on the sidelines of the Hospitality, Overview, Presentation & Exchange conference in Goa, adding that more frequent travel is boosting demand.
For the nine months ended December 31, Leela reported a 19% rise in revenue from operations to 10.43 billion rupees ($114.7 million), while core earnings increased 24% to 5.4 billion rupees.
Leela has beaten analyst expectations in each of the three quarters since its market debut in June and expects the trend to continue in fiscal 2027, Bhatnagar said. Analysts expect revenue to rise 12% to 17.07 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
The supply of luxury hotel rooms is limited at around 30,000 keys in the world's most populous country, and a growing affluent base should help support occupancy and room rates, according to Bhatnagar.
Occupancy rose two percentage points to 71% year-over-year in the December quarter, while revenue per available room climbed 20% to 21,551 rupees.
Despite making its first overseas investment last year with the purchase of a 25% stake in a luxury beachfront resort on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, Leela's primary focus will remain on India, Bhatnagar said.
($1 = 90.9510 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Nathan Gomes in Panaji; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Eileen Soreng)
((Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com; +91 867-525-3569;))