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Shareholders of Blantyre Hotels Limited (BHL) have approved the sale of the 41 bedroom Shire Highlands Hotel as part of the hotel chain’s restructuring process.
BHL company secretary Hastings Thembakako said in an interview yesterday Shire Highlands Hotel, one of the oldest will be sold at K54 million.
He said BHL management is expected to meet Shire Highlands Hotel’s estimated 40 employees today to brief them on the development which was endorsed by shareholders during their extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on December 21.
“We had the EGM and the resolution to sell Shire Highlands Hotel was passed,” said Thembakako of the hotel on plot number LE 243 covering 1.307 hectares.
This development will leave BHL, listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange, with only its flagship four-star Protea Ryalls Hotel and a yet to be implemented project to construct Protea Lilongwe Hotel.
BHL had allocated about K20 million for the rehabilitation of Shire Highlands Hotel which was expected to start in January this year.
The rehabilitation would have given the colonial designed hotel new interiors and preserved exteriors besides having the roof replaced, rooms redone and a new conference centre.
But Thembakako said the rehabilitation project was later put on hold by the BHL board because it proved to be not economically viable.
Commenting on the future of the hotel’s staff, Thembakako said that was one of the issues currently being discussed with the prospective new owners.
“The deal is not yet finalised as such most finer details like the fate of the staff are yet to be finalised,” he said.
BHL has been sailing through troubled waters over the past two years when it failed to declare a dividend for its shareholders largely because the hotel chain was financing a loan used to construct the new wing of Protea Ryalls Hotel.
BHL, however, said in its results for the half-year ended March 31 this year that it expected to have better results in 2004 with the opening of the Protea Ryalls Hotel’s conference centre and additional 26 rooms in April.
The conference centre is now operational and some shops, an internet cafe, a gym and a hair dressing salon have also been opened in the refurbished old-wing of Protea Ryalls Hotel.
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