Safestay (AIM:SSTY) PLC, the hostels operator, said the company is no longer up for sale despite receiving an indicative offer price the board approved of.
The board’s positive view of the indicative offer terms was not shared by enough of the company’s shareholders to make it worthwhile accepting the offer as a result of which the formal sales process has been terminated.
The board has also decided to end the strategic review it embarked upon back in September of last year.
Safestay's hostels fully re-opened in July 2021, since when the board has been encouraged by the trading performance. The hostels have delivered “significantly more” revenues than in 2020 since reopening and hostel underlying earnings (EBITDA) returned to a positive position in the latter months of the year before trade was affected once again by travel restrictions and lockdowns because of the Omicron variant.
The board believes that as travel restrictions are lifted across Europe, the desire for travel will return, and the key locations and appeal of Safestay will see a strengthening of occupancy levels across its sites.
“Despite the pandemic, revenues for the first quarter appear to be ahead of the management's prudent expectations and there are indications that this will continue into the early Spring, but as the past 23 months have repeatedly demonstrated nothing can be taken for granted with the global pandemic. A further update on outlook will be provided when we publish our 2021 results,” the company’s statement concluded.