Hotel operator City Lodge has upped its final dividend by over a fifth, saying on Thursday that, while it felt a second-half hit from the Middle East conflict, it remains upbeat about its recent trading performance.

Revenue climbed 10% to R2.2 billion in the group's year to end-June, helped by a two-percentage-point rise in occupancies to 58%, while average room rates grew 7%, in line with the prior year. The full-year result was down from the interim occupancy of almost 62%, and profit after tax fell 5% to R203 million, largely due to currency effects.

Adjusted headline earnings, which exclude foreign exchange effects, grew about 13.7% to R218.6 million, while share buybacks pushed this up to 20% growth at a per-share level.

Read the full article by Karl Gernetzky in Media24 here.