Ladies and gentlemen, good day, welcome to the Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call of SAMHI Hotels Limited. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as on date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ashish Jakhanwala, MD & CEO of SAMHI Hotels Limited. Thank you, over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to SAMHI Hotels' Q4 and full year financial year 2026 earnings call. Thank you for taking out the time to join us today. I am joined by our CFO, Rajat Mehra, EVP and Head of Investments, Gyana Das and Nakul Manaktala , and our SVP of Investments. Our investor relation partners, strategic growth advisors, are also on the call. We have uploaded our Q4 FY 2026 financial results and investor presentation from the exchanges and on our website. I hope everyone's had a chance to go through them. FY 2026 was a year of tangible performance in the midst of real headwinds. I'm pleased to share our progress with you. I would like to start by informing you that the company delivered a profit before tax of circa INR 165 crores, which was 89% growth over last year.
This was before any one-time or exceptional items and actually demonstrates how far we have come since we went public. At the start of FY 2026, we set two specific commitments to our shareholders. One, deliver revenue growth in the range of 9%-11%, two, bring the balance sheet to a net debt to EBITDA of approximately three times. Despite revenue disruptions and active future growth, we have delivered on both as revenue growth came in at 12.3% for the year, anchored to commercial demand in our core markets. Total income grew to INR 1,279 crores, we ended the year with a net debt at INR 1,450 crores, translating to a net debt to EBITDA of about three times. What makes these outcomes meaningful is the operating environment they were delivered in. FY 2026 absorbed a sequence of disruptions that bracketed almost every quarter.
The India-Pakistan conflict in May, an unusually severe monsoons and flooding in our core markets in August, the airline disruptions in December, and the Middle East conflict in March, which continues. These one-time events compressed our full-year revenue by approximately INR 45 crores-INR 52 crores, leading to revenue growth being diluted from a potential of 16%-17% to an actual reported number of 12.3%. FY 2026 was also the year we set up the next decade of SAMHI's growth. We formally launched our GIC platform for upscale hotels in India, with committing approximately INR 750 crores for a 35% minority stake in a 1,000-room platform. Of this, INR 600 crores has already been received, with the balance to come over the next two odd years to fund CapEx for The Westin Tribute at Bangalore development.
We signed a partnership with Ingka Centres, which is a part of the Ingka Group, for a 162-room upscale hotel at Sector 51, Noida, structured as a long-term variable lease. It's a landmark addition that strengthens our presence in Delhi NCR through a capital-efficient model. We also secured a lease in a marquee under-development project in Hyderabad, named One Financial District, for a 260-room hotel, which will redefine the precinct through a combination of lifestyle-led retail, office, and hotel. We could also resolve the Navi Mumbai litigation and announce the development of our largest hotel project to date, a 700-room combination of Westin and Fairfield by Marriott, with a potential revenue of almost INR 325 crores on current market RevPAR.
We have yesterday sought approval from our board to add a 335-room Marriott hotel in Sriperumbudur, where we already have an operating Fairfield by Marriott and has achieved an asset-level ROCE of more than 30%. This year, we also entered the experiential leisure segment through an acquisition of a 70% stake in RARE India, which is a curated platform of 73 hotels and 1,000 rooms. This is under discussion for an affiliation with Autograph Collection by Marriott Bonvoy . I'll now pass over the mic to Rajat, who will take you through the detailed financial performance. Over to you, Rajat.
Thank you, Ashish. Good morning, everybody. Starting with our full-year FY 2026 results, the total income stood at INR 1,279 crores with a same-store RevPAR growth of 9.5%, in line with our long-term guidance of 9%-11%. The four core markets, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Delhi NCR contributed approximately 76% of the asset income, in line with our office absorption concentration. Consolidated EBITDA for FY 2026 was INR 263 crores, up 8.8% on a year-on-year reported basis, with the EBITDA margins at 36.2%. Adjusted for the impact on account of the GST changes, this would have been circa a 13% year-on-year growth. For the fourth quarter, the total income was approximately INR 354 crores, a year-on-year growth of 9.3% with the same-store revenue growth of 6.4%.
The quarter held a revenue growth trajectory of approximately 12% through the end of February, before the Middle East disturbance reduced the March revenue to sub minus 1%, thus diluting the full quarter revenue growth. Consolidated EBITDA for Q4 was approximately INR 120 crores. While this was 6% below the same quarter last year, it was largely on account of expanded GST impact as more rooms were sold for less than INR 70,000, some FF&E expense through the P&L and the pre-opening expenses for the new inventory. The impact of the Gulf prices added to these factors. For the full year, the key developments which impacted our performance includes, first, the GST regulatory change, moving the hotel slab from 12% with input credit to 5% without the input tax credit, which impacted the H2 FY 2026 consolidated EBITDA by approximately INR 14 crores.
Second, approximately INR 5 crore was funded for the FF&E product upgrade, the year-end reconciliation, some actuarial valuation, which is done at the end of the year, which are all routed through the P&L. Third, a full one-time disturbance that Ashish mentioned earlier, starting with the India-Pakistan conflict in May and ending with the Middle East conflict, which is still continuing. Adjusted for these items, FY 2026 EBITDA growth would have come in line of 19%-20% with margins of 38%+. Q4 FY 2026 consolidated EBITDA would have been approximately INR 149 crore, representing a year-over-year growth of approximately 16.8%, in line with the trajectory we have held before the disturbance. Moving below the EBITDA, depreciation and amortization for FY 2026 was INR 127 crore versus INR 116 crore in FY 2026.
Finance cost for the year was INR 171 crore, sharply down from INR 225 crore in FY 2025, reflecting the impact of the GIC capital infusion starting in June 2025, and consequent deleveraging and the reduction in the cost of borrowing. PBT before exceptional items almost doubled to INR 165 crore for the year, up from about INR 87 crore in FY 2025. We also booked deferred tax income of approximately INR 300 crore recognized in the fourth quarter on account of formal recognition of brought forward losses and unabsorbed depreciation. That we'll have recognized in our balance sheet as a deferred tax asset, reflecting management's increased confidence in the continuous utilization of this shield. This is a non-cash accounting driven income line.
FY 2026 reported PAT included the Q4 deferred tax recognition, the Navi Mumbai and other impairment reversal of close to about INR 83 crores, and a gain on sale of discontinued operations in Caspia Delhi was approximately INR 567 crores. On the balance sheet, the net debt as on March 31st, 2026 stood at INR 1,450 crores, a reduction of approximately INR 516 crores from INR 1,967 crores as of March 31st, 2025, primarily reflecting the GIC infusion deployed for deleveraging. The net debt to EBITDA at the end of the year is approximately 3.3x. The equities stood at approximately INR 2,286 crores at the year-end versus INR 1,142 crores at the end of FY 2025. The effective interest rate for the group is now 7.9% as on May 21st, 2026. An annualized interest cost run rate has actually come down to about INR 130-INR 135 crores.
Our credit rating has been upgraded to A+ stable by both CARE and ICRA during the year. The combination of consistent same-store revenue growth, further lever for improved margins, decline in finance cost, and fully capitalized growth pipeline gave us a free cash flow generation of approximately INR 300 crore in FY 2026, with both interest and LG minimum guarantee payments. This is the number that we underwrite for the next phase, and Ashish will speak on how this will compound. With this, I now request Ashish to take you through the growth projects and concluding statements. Over to you.
Thanks, Rajat . FY 2026 was a year that SAMHI's free cash flow generation became real, and FY 2027 onwards is the year that free cash compounds. Let me lay this out for you. Our FY 2026 free cash flow, approximately INR 300 crores, became approximately INR 315 on a run rate basis once the additional interest savings we have secured is factored in. Over a five-year horizon from FY 2027, which is the current fiscal, to FY 2031, that base alone held flat produces approximately INR 1,550 crores of free cash. Layering on the same-store revenue growth, even at the lower end of our 9%-11% range, adds approximately an additional INR 1,000 crores of incremental free cash over the five-year period.
On top of this, we have a fully committed pipeline of new openings, beginning with W City Hyderabad at the end of FY 2027, the Tribute Portfolio at Bengaluru Whitefield at the end of FY 2028, the Westin at Bengaluru Whitefield, the upscale hotel at Ingka Noida, and the new Marriott Sriperumbudur Chennai in FY 2029, FY 2030. Together adding the increment that takes the cumulative free cash post interest over the FY 2027 to 2031 window to more than INR 3,000 crores. Our future free cash flow is further complemented by demonstrated capital recycling track record. Over the past three years, SAMHI has recycled approximately INR 960 crores of capital INR 210 crores realized by monetizing four non-core hotels at an average 20 times EV to EBITDA, and approximately INR 750 crores through the GIC capital infusion into subsidiary platform.
Of this, approximately INR 650 crores was deployed to reduce debt and the balance funding accretive new acquisitions. Therefore, capital recycling is an established part of our playbook, not an opportunistic tool. We've identified further candidates within the portfolio, and we will execute selectively to maximize returns on capital employed, accelerate our de-leveraging, and fund growth. Going forward, the INR 3,000 crore plus of cumulative free cash over the FY 2027 to FY 2031, coupled with established capital recycling program, is allocated against a structured framework. First, continue de-leveraging towards a medium to long-term net debt to EBITDA target of approximately 2.5 times. Second, the commitment to fully fund the INR 2,200 crore of CapEx across the existing pipeline, including Navi Mumbai. Third, retain investable surplus for tactical mergers and acquisitions and adding long-term variable leases where returns are very accretive.
Fourth, as free cash flow compounds beyond our committed growth requirements, the board intends to evaluate disciplined mechanism to return capital directly to shareholders in a manner consistent with long-term value creation. Looking ahead, FY 2027 builds from the FY 2026 base. We are confident of delivering 7% same-store revenue growth with healthy margin expansion on top of the ongoing contribution of the assets that opened during FY 2026. The GST impact being normalized from quarter three FY 2027, as the year-ago basis resets. We are also confident of contributions coming from W Hyderabad in the near term. With the GIC platform giving us institutional capital firepower, the Ingka partnership giving us a marquee in Delhi NCR addition on variable lease. The RARE India platform giving us capital efficient entry into a rapidly expanding experiential leisure segment.
SAMHI is now positioned to compound free cash, expand the portfolio in core markets, transform the P&L through multiple big box assets in a pipeline without taking incremental leverage and without diluting equity. Thank you for your time today, and we'll now open the floor for questions.
Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants, you are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. A reminder to all, you may press star and one to ask a question. We will take the first question from the line of Karan Khanna from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, Ashish, can you provide some color on how April and May have trended so far, and how is Q1 FY 2027 looking so far in terms of booking and MICE activities? As a follow-up, given you had the benefit of a favorable base in FY 2026, how should we think about the like-for-like growth expectations for FY 2027?
Karan, cumulative QTD, quarter till date, is tracking double-digit revenue growth. Bear in mind, April was flattish, May is strong, and that kind of answers your second part that we also inherited a very weak base in May of last year. I think given the fact that we almost lost a quarter last year, one month every quarter because of some issue, we think that even though the Gulf crisis will continue to impact absolute numbers through the first quarter, the year-on-year growth will easily be maintained in double digits, Karan.
Sure. Just on the GST impact, seems like GST is more like a permanent reduction in margin since the rules are unlikely to change. In light of this, what margins are you expecting in FY 2027, 2028, and how would those margins look like prior to the GST implications?
Karan, the margins we expect to be around 38% or so. There is an impact of GST for sure, which is permanent in terms of absolute basis. Even then, we should maintain a 38% margin through the year. Don't forget, a lot of our pipeline is all upscale, where we don't have many rooms selling for less than INR 7,500. We should maintain a 38% plus margins at a group level.
Sure. Secondly, if I look at slide 32, given the kind of pipeline that you have in FY 2027 and beyond, is there a spillover risk in terms of construction delay in any of the recent pipeline? Given that you had four major hotel development announcements during the year. For FY 2027, should we continue to see more acquisition or capacity expansion announcements as well as the asset recycling trend continuing, or will the focus now be towards stabilizing the existing pipeline first, before pushing the accelerator towards growth?
Karan, I think you know SAMHI for a while. We are a very well-set management team with specific responsibilities to each group. We have a very strong operating team, largely led by our operating partners. They will focus on ensuring that we deliver on the same store of the operating assets without being distracted by what's been happening on the M&A space. That's one that I think at all times we have separated our operating teams from our growth teams. The second question about acquisition versus Capital recycling, I just stated that is something that we'll continue to look at. We have identified a few more candidates within our portfolio, which we think where we can extract our capital from.
As we extract capital from those assets, we constantly look to redeploying them so that the return ratios can be improved for the company and for our shareholders. Acquisitions are always opportunistic, Karan. We want to maintain discipline of discount or replacement costs. We want to maintain the discipline of underwriting, meeting ROCEs. We want to maintain the discipline of not investing in long-lead greenfield assets, and we have some because of adding inventory and so on and so forth. We have very strong guardrails, but capital recycling is something that we continue to evaluate through the year and next year, including also redeploying that capital for more interesting opportunities.
Great. I'll come back in the queue for follow-ups, Ashish. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. Before we take the next question, ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address all the questions from the participants in the question queue, we request you to kindly limit your questions to two per participant. If you have a follow-up question, please stay to end the queue again. We will take the next question from the line of Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow India. Please go ahead.
Hi, Ashish and team. Congratulations on excellent results and on the de-leveraging. A very quick question. Given the new projects coming up this year, what is likely to be the revenue growth as a pecent for FY 2027?
Viraj, sorry, the line is cracking a little bit. Hello?
Sorry to interrupt in between. I'm sorry. Viraj, I would request you to please self-mute your line. Sorry again for the interruption.
Okay. I think the question was about what's the revenue growth we expect with the new openings. I think let's just break it up year by year. What do we have in FY 2027? FY 2027, first of all, we have the same store of hotels. This portfolio grew in the zip code about 6%-7% last year with a lot of interruptions. Without that, this would have grown comfortably in the zip code of 10%-11%. Given the base has been reset, as Karan mentioned on the earlier question, we expect the same store hotels to comfortably grow in the zip code for about 9%-10% year-on-year for FY 2027. Two, we had undertaken a fair bit of renovation and additions during FY 2026. Just to mention a few, we had added inventory, almost 20% inventory to our Sheraton Hyderabad.
We have added inventory to our Hyatt Regency Pune . We have added inventory to one of our Holiday Inn Express hotels. We obviously opened two more Holiday Inn Express hotels during the year. We also undertook significant work in our Hyatt Place Gurgaon, where a significant inventory was shut for renovation, has reopened. There's a new ballroom and so on and so forth. We do expect that the capital and the efforts we had invested in FY 2026 in these assets will add on to the same store for FY 2027, and if not, they give us enough cushion and hedge if the current crisis was to continue longer. Therefore, being conservative, we feel that while if there was to be no crisis, same store would have grown at about 9%-10%, and incremental impact would have been about 3%-4%.
Total revenue growth would be about 14-odd%. I think at this point, we like to guide with an element of caution that the current crisis may continue, and therefore the overall revenue growth should be underwritten in the zip code for about 10%-11% YoY. That we expect FY 2027. FY 2028 is a big year for us because we opened the W in Hyderabad, and notwithstanding what we are seeing as the current crisis, the location of that hotel, the brand and the product positioning is extremely strong. We do expect the W Hyderabad to bring, on the current revenue run rate basis, almost 6% or 7% growth. For FY 2028, we are extremely well set to add that 6%, 7% YoY growth because of that new hotel opening.
Beyond that, of course, we have larger openings like the Tribute in Bengaluru, then The Westin in Bengaluru, then the Noida development. I think starting FY 2027, we are in a very secure space because the investments that we have made since we went public.
Understood. Thank you. Ashish, would you like to guide us towards the interest cost outgo likely for FY 2027?
FY 2027?
Viraj here.
For FY 2027, on a pure Excel sheet, the interest expense comes to about INR 127 crores. We would again caution the news that we are hearing in the market is that the interest rate cycle may see an upward revision because of the currency weakness. We have already factored in a 25 basis points of increase to indicate a total interest cost in the range of about INR 135 odd crores. We have factored in what we expect could be the interest rate hardening this year. As of today, the cash interest expense will be about INR 127 crores, but we are guiding towards INR 135, INR 140, only because of the fact that we will factor in a 15-20 bps increase in the interest rate.
Understood. Thank you. I'll come back for more questions.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Jinesh Joshi from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I was just trying to adjust the EBITDA margin in Q4 for the crisis. If I have a look at our reported EBITDA, which includes other incomes, the figure stated is about INR 149 crores. If I exclude other income of about INR 8 crores-INR 9 crores to the reported EBITDA and add about INR 22 crores of revenue loss that we have seen in the month of March, our EBITDA margin is at about 38.4%, which in the base quarter was about 38.7%. While the decline is not meaningful, but we haven't seen any improvement come through in the EBITDA margins. Are we kind of facing any operational headwinds on the cost side? If you can talk a bit about that, and also in that context, our full year guidance of 38%, because Q3 and Q4 our margins typically tend to be higher.
If in Q1 and Q2 we are slightly lower, how should we think about that guidance as well?
Jinesh, very good question. Let me break it up for you, actually. When you do the math in terms of adjusting for other income and then adding back the impact of, let's say, GST and the whole crisis that we've seen, you're absolutely right, it's flattish margin. When you drill down our asset level performance this year, one of our large assets had picked up almost INR 13 crores-INR 14 crores of what is called corporate catering and outdoor catering. That one business came at very low margin. Okay? That kind of impacted a bit of what would have been a slight increase in the margin to what we've delivered. As we rationalize the revenue mix through FY 2027, that dilutive impact of a not very large but still a reasonably sized business that was picked this year, which reported very low margin, will disappear starting May.
I think there was one asset, one particular contract, slight dilutive impact, which we will not see through FY 2027.
Understood. Sir, one accounting question. The variable lease hotel stack we have announced in Hyderabad and Noida. Given these are long-term leases, will the rent get capitalized on the balance sheet, or will it be expensed into the P&L? That is one. Just one small follow-up. While in the PPT, we have given a five-year CapEx guidance of INR 2,200 crore, can you just help us break it down for the next two years, which is 2027 and 2028? Yeah. That is the last question from my side.
Yeah. Jinesh, hi. This is Rajat here. As far as the lease which are paid, till the time the development of the hotel is happening, all leases will get capitalized. Whatever we are paying for the W today on a regular basis is getting capitalized till the time we open the hotel. After that, it will be expensed into the P&L as soon as the hotel starts generating revenue.
Yeah. Just to reconfirm, all leases have a three to five year minimum guarantee. That is really a part of your—
For that, we will actually create a separate ROU and a lease liability, which has a separate accounting treatment. The variable part of that is a cost which straightaway goes.
Even today, Jinesh, about almost 1.5%-2% of our revenue is on account of the variable lease payments we make on our existing leasehold assets. When you compare the EBITDA margins like to like, actually our EBITDA would be in the ZIP code higher by about 150 to 170 basis points only on account of the lease treatment. Coming to your second question, for FY 2027, we have allocated about INR 250-270 crores of capital expenditure. Large part of this is actually towards the W Hyderabad. Almost INR 150 crores is for W Hyderabad for it to be opening towards the end of the year. The balance is for the work going on in the Westin Bengaluru. We are allocating some capital towards maintenance, and we've seen that for the P&L there is some maintenance requirement.
We are doing minor renovations in Four Points Pune and Jaipur, we've allocated about INR 15 crore-INR 20 crore there. Some bit of investment in leisure. For FY 2028, we expect to maintain a similar zip code of CapEx, which then will be directed, majority of that will be directed towards the Westin Bengaluru because W would have been largely fully invested so far. That's how we see the CapEx plan for the next two years. Zip code of INR 250 crore-INR 270 crore per year run rate as of today.
Can I ask just one more question?
Sure.
A small clarification. Sir, in the presentation, we have mentioned that due to the GST change, the number of room nights sold for less than 7,500 have increased quite a bit. If I look at the occupancy of the upper mid-scale and mid-scale assets that we have given in the PPT, that figure is more or less constant.
Correct.
I was just trying to think through what has happened exactly.
The funny part about the GST regulation is it has nothing to do with segment. It has nothing to do with the average rate of a hotel also. It is applied to each room which is sold for less than INR 7,500. Even in a hotel where we have reported an average rate of INR 9,000, if during the month of March, because of the Gulf crisis, they saw cancellation of a group or an event, and they replaced it by another group which came at a rate lower than INR 7,500.
That's right.
We would have lost the GST input tax credit. This will not be visible from segment performance. Actually, even if you look at our best-performing hotel, like a Courtyard Fairfield Bangalore, in the month of March, they would have ended up selling a few rooms, let's say, less than INR 7,500. The impact is on every room which is sold for less than INR 7,500. As the revenue management logic would unfortunately tell you, that when you go through a period of crisis, you tend to secure market share and volumes, and some of that comes at a slightly discounted price than you would have otherwise planned for. That's why if you see, FY in the last six months, the total GST impact on a YoY basis in the quarter three was about INR 7.5 crores actually.
Okay.
The same amount expanded to about INR 10 crore in quarter four. Even then, that's not proportionate to the revenue growth we've seen Q1, Q3 actually. That demonstrates that more rooms were sold at less than INR 7,500. That's standard revenue management.
Thank you, sir. All the best.
Thank you so much, Jinesh.
Thank you. Before we proceed to the next question, we kindly request all participants to use handsets while asking a question and keep their lines on mute while the management is addressing the queries in order to avoid any background disturbance. We will take the next question from the line of Vikas Ahuja from Antique Stock Broking. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning, all. Thank you for the opportunity. Ashish, my first question is regarding this INR 153 million impact because of the West Asia disruption. In our presentation, we have written that inbound FIT cancellation, airline, cruise, and MENA. Is there any residual impact also which is going into April and May? Or this is just purely a one-off and we may not see this recurring in Q1?
Because we have seen that continue through April. May started seeing a solid recovery. Well, May, two things are happening, to be honest. One is last year base was very poor, Vikas, because we had Operation Sindoor in May. Operation Sindoor started around 9th of May or 1st of May. Clearly you inherited a very extremely poor base. Even if I ignore it, constantly tracking this current quarter over the same quarter in FY 2025 actually.
Okay.
Comparing it to FY 2026 is kind of blindsiding yourself for future. Whatever we delivered in FY 2026 while for a management, it's very easy to use that as a base to look like heroes in FY 2027, but it clearly doesn't set them for success in the long term. When we look at quarter one performance, we are actually comparing it to the quarter one of FY 2025 because that didn't have an incident like Operation Sindoor, which was actually as severe an incident as what we are seeing currently. Adjusting for all of that, what we've realized is that even long-haul international travel has resumed.
Okay.
Even the customers from the U.S. have started flying. Don't forget, the flying time has now increased to 20 hours. It clearly impacts the number of people who would like to come for a small meeting. We have clearly seen a very encouraging resumption of business from all core markets. The occupancies are not a problem. We are running really strong capacity utilization across the group. As the business rebalances will give us the conviction to restart repricing. I think as of today, that is why we feel reasonably confident. Okay, listen, these operators give you a calendar year number. We report a fiscal year number. In a typical year, the ratio of fiscal year to calendar year is about 1.04, 1.05. About 4% ahead of the calendar year is the fiscal year ending. Last year, that dropped to about just barely 2%. It was 1.02.
Okay.
If I take the numbers that have been delivered from January till now, which is a very period full of turmoil, to be honest with you, we actually think that the early double-digit growth rates are fairly secure. When I say fairly secure, to be very vigilant and keep monitoring what's happening to the current situation. As of today, we feel the double-digit revenue growth is not something that is at an alarming threat. The world is volatile, and we need to keep watching where we are headed.
That's helpful. Roughly we should build in a similar kind of impact around INR 150 million for maybe Q1 as well, which will hit the margin. As you rightly said, FY 2025 is the base we should look at. I just want to clarify on that. If I look at the GST impact, which was largely for the second half, INR 180 million. If I annualize it would be roughly INR 300 million for the year. If I compare it with the FY 2025 base, there is a 2.5%-3% drag. When we say 38%, which is 50-70 basis points higher than FY 2028. Roughly if I exclude that, our margin would have improved more than 3 percentage points. Is that a right understanding?
Absolutely correct. The group level would have been upwards of 40%, minus the GST impact. Our upscale is already upwards of 42%, 43%. Our ACIC has now moved in line, 41%, 42% actually. Our Holiday Inn Express portfolio has done really well. You're absolutely right. GST has a permanent impact on the margins, and that's why for this year, we're guiding to be 38%. The good news, Vikas, each year our reported margins will keep going up on a normalized basis because.
Right
most of our incremental inventory is upscale, where we don't expect to sell many rooms for less than INR 7,500. I think structurally, the company will secure its place at 40% plus reported margin, only given the fact that our incremental investments or openings are all upscale actually. In strong markets. I mean, let's be cautious. An upscale in Ahmedabad has a risk of selling rooms at less than INR 7,500. A mid-scale in Hyderabad and Bangalore is at risk of being sold at that price. Our inventory is opening in upscale and in markets like Bangalore and Hyderabad, which gives us a reasonable security about not selling rooms below that price point.
Right. Ashish, is it fair to understand once things normalize, so there would be some upward bias on this 9%-11%, the target we have on income as well because of the GST introduction. There should be some upward bias there. Finally, anything on this NCR where RevPAR declined -9%. Is the renovation of Hyatt Place largely over and we should start seeing growth coming back there, RevPAR growth coming back from this fiscal year? Thank you. That's my last question and thanks a lot.
Vikas. Absolutely. Hyatt Place Gurgaon renovation got concluded actually by end of quarter three. If you see January till now, we've seen fabulous growth in that asset. We do expect NCR to come back to mid-teens in the current fiscal year. There's no doubt in our minds about that because the base was very low. Notwithstanding what we are seeing as crisis, we're not worried about some of the assets where we've taken interventions because the base was doubly impacted. A, because of the renovation, and B, because when they opened, the market was really, really bad. No need to be concerned about NCR. Hyatt Place Gurgaon now fully renovated and open, and it's set to deliver, at least in our opinion, mid-teen revenue growth, if not more.
Ashish, we missed on that 9%-11%, if there is any upward bias towards that because of the GST reduction and all.
Listen, just look at the last year number, Vikas. Last year, the total revenue growth in the portfolio was about 12%. Okay. If I look both at the external environment and internal issues such as renovation at Hyatt Place and ballrooms in Hyatt Regency and Sheraton. We've spoken about this in the first half. Unfortunately, we all forget in public markets. This year we had undertaken certain capital investments for product improvement, which did impact our revenue run rates. FY 2026 should have easily been a 15%-16% revenue growth percent. Okay. If we see the Gulf crisis settle down, even if it takes another three months to settle down. I think this year has a fair bit of an upside potential, but that's the potential.
Our current plan on EBITDA growth, cash flow generation, our targeted leverage, all of that is dependent on just that 9%-11% revenue growth. Anything we get on top of that will do a couple of things. Number one, it will substantially improve our EBITDA growth plus margins. Two, all of that incremental EBITDA will go straight to our free cash, and that, of course, has a snowball effect of what that can do to the company. That's why every management, just like every equity investor, tends to be cautious about the downside, but clearly works hard for the upside. That's why we have articulated our capital allocation plan because we do feel over the next three to four years, there's a lot more upside built into our business that allows us to do all the four things.
Which is quickly deleverage, clearly continue our CapEx plan, which is not being impacted by anything. Continue to look for growth opportunities, last but not the least, have the optionality. I don't want to speak ahead of time. Have the optionality to start considering any sort of a shareholder return. I think there is an upside in the business plan, but we need to be very cautious, especially in times when bombs are flying around the world really.
Thank you. Thanks, Ashish.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Shrinjana Mittal from MS Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions. One is, if I look at slide 28, the income bridge that we shared, the same-store EBITDA shows a negative impact even if I look at the ex-GST number. In this, is this dragged largely because of that one asset where these margins were structurally lower? If yes, can you quantify that for us? Second one is, our understanding is that the incremental flow-through from incremental revenue is about 50-odd %. That's generally the case for us. Given the GST impact, how should we think about this going forward? Yeah, that's my question.
Thanks. A good question. When you look at slide 28 and the quarter 26 same stores, you're absolutely right, whether GST has been separated from this, it does include what Rajat mentioned about the FF&E expense and some of the year-end reconciliation. Two, of course, the impact of the outdoor catering and corporate catering business taken at Hyatt Regency Pune. Both of those things impacted the revenue growth. One thing we need to be aware of, Shrinjana, is that typically we see a very significant jump between quarter three and quarter four revenues historically. Most of them coming actually post 20th January till end of March. We've always seen the first 10, 15 days of January mirroring the last 20 days of December which is a year-end vacation period. Post 20th January, we see a very strong growth in revenues.
Typically, hotels are geared to deal with that, and that's the case this time also. When in that situation you are hit with a sudden loss of income, loss of groups, and so on and so forth, the ability to control cost is not immediate. If you see the same thing in April, for instance, you'll see an improved number because the management had a month to respond to outsourced labor, fixed contract, and stuff like that. When you're hit with a crisis in a quarter when you're prepared for a significant revenue jump, it's sometimes difficult to maintain the flow through the recovery. What you see as -3.7% is on account of the FF&E expense through the P&L. You will see the impact of year-end reconciliations, actuarial costs, all of that.
Then, of course, some impact of that outdoor catering and corporate catering business that was taken at.
Also the pre-opening expense.
Yeah, that's the combination. Can you repeat your second question, please?
No, I think that roughly answers. Second question was just as the flow through, that 50% flow through, this is a one-off thing. That is what I meant. That 50% flow through is what we usually expect, and that has not changed even after the GST change.
We do expect a 55%+ flow through. 50% is underwhelming, 60% is where we are happy. We have seen a median to be around 55% flow through across our business, and that structurally has not changed.
Understood. Very clear. Just one more question. The depreciation number has also increased a fair bit sequentially as well. Can you help me understand what has led to that?
You see, this is actually on account of one-time revaluation of the balance life of the assets. We, after every three years, do a reassessment. Whichever asset that we feel that actually have almost lived its life, so we've taken a one-time hit of that, and subsequent to this, I don't think there's going to be any material change in the depreciation number that we have been reporting.
Thank you. That helps. Thanks. Thanks, all.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Achal Kumar from HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking the question. The first question is about your long-term target, which we have spoken about. Two things here. One, you have shown the path for FY 2027, 2028, but just want to understand, with all the assumptions you're putting in, the growth you have put in, where do you see in terms of your ROCE target in FY 2031 and your net debt to EBITDA? How are you will fund this INR 2,200 crore of CapEx over the next five years? If you could give a bit of a color. Obviously, what kind of assumptions do you have in terms of your ARR growth over the next five years, and how do you see these hotels to generate the group-level EBITDA margins? If you could also give a bit of color on that, please. Thanks.
Okay. I think I'll summarize about three or four questions you've had. One was the expected ROCE. Second was net debt to EBITDA target. Third was how do we fund our CapEx. Fourth was the asset level RevPAR growth. Let me take the easier questions first, then I'll come to the more difficult ones. In terms of net debt to EBITDA, Achal, I'll repeat. Since we've gone public, there are only two guidance we have given. One, in terms of what we expect the revenue growth to be in the long term, and I'm kind of proud of the fact that we've held on to our 9%-11% guidance pretty much from the day till today, and we've seen lots of highs and lots of lows in the market.
I think what we have learned is that when you give a long-term guidance, it should remain long-term stable and should factor in the event. We had factored in events, and we stay absolutely confident of maintaining a 9%-11% total revenue growth from same store hotels. That is number one. Secondly, second guidance we have given is the fact that this company is committing to bring the leverage to 2.5x net debt to EBITDA. We are currently at 3x net debt to EBITDA. If we had not seen the interruptions that we saw during the year, this number would have already gone to a two ZIP code. Could have been 2.8, could have been 2.9, but we would have been at 2.8. Typically, when we guide our investors, we keep a margin of error.
We were thinking and hoping we'll be at 2.8 times net debt to EBITDA at the end of the year. That is the circa 3.0. We are precisely at 3.07 as when we reported our numbers. As of today, we maintain our guidance that this company will stabilize its net debt to EBITDA at 2.5 times. I think give us another 12 to 18 months, we should be in that ZIP code. Third thing is in terms of CapEx funding, I think we've articulated that our last year's free cash flow production, which is nothing but EBITDA minus interest expense and lease MG, is approximately INR 300 crores. When we looked at the recent interest rate reductions that we've been able to achieve, that number, without changing the EBITDA number, would have been about INR 310 odd crores. Now there are three things which will happen.
We are underwriting, Achal, that this INR 310 crore is largely secured only. This is on the back of a really, one could say, a tough year. This INR 310 crore is really available to us for the next four to five years because the base is tested on a really tough year. The second thing that we are underwriting clearly is that 9%-11% revenue growth. When we looked at revenue growth, EBITDA growth, what could be the future value of this company? We obviously put a lens of optimism and growth. When we underwrite cash flows and leverage, we put a lens of pessimism. Therefore, what we do is, we assume no operating leverage, and we pretty much apply the same RevPAR or revenue growth to EBITDA growth.
If we only get about 9%-10% EBITDA growth, that will give us an incremental INR 700 crores of free cash from our existing pool of assets in a five-year period. Then starting FY 2028, when the W opens, and then subsequently we open other hotels, the assets from now till FY 2031 will contribute incremental about INR 400-500 crores of EBITDA. As we have articulated, we are not seeking incremental debt, and therefore the EBITDA from those assets have a real flow-through to our free cash. We have reasonable source and visibility of financing for funding the approximately INR 2,200 crores of CapEx. Again, to be cautious, we have done two things. When we are considering the revenue and EBITDA, we have ignored Navi Mumbai and One Financial District Hyderabad.
We have assumed zero contribution from those because these are quasi-greenfield, and we know what happens to greenfield. When we are considering the CapEx, we are assuming these hotels are going as per plan, and therefore we've taken the full CapEx for this five year period. We have built in some margin of error, hopefully, in the way we've laid out our cash flow forecast. That's the three easy questions. Okay. Now let me come to the more difficult question, which is the ROCE part. If you see, our current pool of assets are really well geared to get to the targeted 14%-15% ROCE. We think there is very little risk to that. The current pool of assets we could underwrite to be at 14%, 15% ROCE. Now let's target the new openings. Now, the new openings will be a mixed bag.
There will be hotels like Ingka, there will be hotels like W Hyderabad. These hotels are on variable leases, and unlike the freehold assets, they tend to deliver very good ROCEs early on. If the group-level ROCE is in the zip code of 14%, 15%, the W Hyderabad opening, let's say in FY 2028, when the asset gets fully capitalized. First of all, we don't carry the depreciation of the building in our books because we've leased it. We expect the ROCEs to be not dilutive to where we are targeting the group to be. Similarly, when we get the delivery of the Ingka, the Ingka Centre hotel, our investment is largely in FF&E and hard finishes, and we have strong markets. Again, this is an asset which will not be very dilutive.
Third thing, which I think we've not spoken about enough today, is this Marriott in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. It's not very often that a company can add a whole Marriott hotel to its existing portfolio without investing a rupee on real estate. The current tape deal by Marriott on that piece of land is at about 30% return on capital employed. If you take the total capital employed in that asset and the current EBIT, we should be at about 28%-32% return on capital employed. On that piece of land, we are adding a whole 130-room Marriott hotel. As that hotel opens, we expect the ROCEs to be extremely high for that hotel because there's no underlying real estate expense.
Generally, we expect our ROCE profile to be maintained in that mid-teen zip code, even though we are opening a lot of new hotels. Classical wisdom will caution you that new openings could be dilutive to your ROCE. A combination of variable leases, the fact that we are on a piece of land where the underlying value of land has already been accounted for, gives us a reasonable protection. I'm sorry I took long to answer this, but I think it needed a bit of an explanation.
Sure. Thank you so much, and wish you good luck. I'll come back in the queue.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Vaibhav Mulay from Haitong India Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Congratulations on good set of numbers. My first question was, I wanted to delve a bit more on asset recycling that you mentioned. You want to evaluate more opportunities. I believe you have already done asset recycling north of INR 200 crore, and as per our earlier target, only INR 100 crore odd recycling is to be done. Are you planning to go beyond this INR 300 crore targeted number in terms of recycling? In terms of the nature of the recycling, is it the complete sale of asset like we saw in case of Ahmedabad or Chennai, or for our Caspia asset, or will it be similar to what GIC did, a minority dilution at asset level? That's my first question.
Vaibhav, first, I think asset recycling is a part of our long-term strategy, and the driving factor behind asset recycling is nothing but ensuring that we deliver a higher return on capital employed and higher growth. Constantly, the investment committee first and then the board evaluate that all of our assets geared to, A, deliver high ROCE, B, protect ROCE, and C, continue to deliver contribution of the earnings growth from that particular asset. Two, we are constantly looking at opportunity cost. That what is the, for instance, the market value of that asset, and what would be our ROCE on the market value? One thing is the ROCE on our book value, which has been depreciated. Two, what is the return on capital employed on the opportunity cost or the underlying market value of that asset?
If we feel that the market value is really high and therefore on the current income, the ROCEs will be really low, but at the same time, we have the ability to acquire a hotel where our ROCEs will be mid-teens to high teens, we are often compelled to evaluate that candidate for an asset recycling. This is something just as our investment committee and board meets often in a year to evaluate where should we deploy our capital, and the same board meetings we have debates about is our current portfolio behaving well, and are there candidates within our portfolio which would be better recycled than held on the book? That's really a capital discipline that we carry as a byproduct of an institutional investor group. Therefore, you're absolutely right. We think our target on asset recycling is bigger than our residual INR 100 crores.
We expect that in the next two years, it should be about INR 200 crore-INR 250 crore, largely through sale of assets. In terms of minority dilution, that is a larger strategic goal and often is done when either we expect to monetize a value created in an asset, just as we did in Courtyard, Fairfield, Bangalore, where we created tremendous value for our shareholders, and then we kind of, in your language, public markets, booked a profit by diluting 35%, and it secures the base for perpetuity effectively. That's a more longer-term strategic decision, which I would not like to comment because it'll be totally speculative. In terms of asset recycling, I can confirm that our current target is more than INR 100 crore.
I would put that number to be in the zip code of about INR 200 crores, INR 200 crores-INR 250 crores, largely in form of single assets where we think our money should be redeployed in more high-growth opportunities. Vaibhav, I hope I have answered your question.
Yes, sir. Clear. Just quick follow-up on this, actually. Isn't there a risk to invest the money that you generate from the sale of assets into a newer venture? Is there a significant delta that you can capture in terms of ROC to take that risk? Let's say if your existing asset is delivering 12%-13% ROC, and if you are generating 15% ROC in a new venture, with a risk that it may or may not be successful. Isn't there a trade-off in terms of taking that risk?
Vaibhav, I'll give you some of the examples. Last year, for instance, we sold Caspia Delhi, and we sold Caspia Delhi for a consideration of INR 65 crores. Well, on that day, the EBITDA contribution was just about INR a crore and a half, INR 2 crores.
Renovated
Renovated, rebranded, capitalized on the current value of that asset, we would have not INR 100 crores for that asset. Interestingly, what are we doing with that capital? That's the capital we are using to do something like a W Hyderabad, for instance. I'll just give you an example. Money is fungible, so hard to say it went from A pocket to a B pocket. The same money which was delivering INR 1.5 crores, INR 2 crores of EBITDA against a INR 60 crore value, it's guaranteed to deliver you a double-digit ROCE in an asset like W Hyderabad. I'm using a word that I normally hesitate to, which is guarantee. I'm using that word because the margin of error is very large in that asset. I can be a slight bullish on that.
You're absolutely right, asset recycling needs to come with a very large margin of safety. Unless that margin of safety is not there, you're absolutely right, Vaibhav. It is not worth considering asset recycling. All of our asset recyclings have carried that significant margin of safety. Even if your new deployment goes wrong on your underwriting, you would still outperform your existing assets, and that's the basic thesis.
Perfectly understand, sir. Second question typically on Bangalore market. Bangalore market is expected to see good pickup in terms of the upcoming supply, especially into upscale, upper upscale markets, where our majority of portfolio lies. Again, another competitor of yours actually yesterday announced that they are planning to set up a Westin brand in Bangalore, with Marriott. Is there a risk that you see for a Bangalore market, especially given the market has run up quite a lot, and over the last couple of quarters, we have started to seeing occupancy taking a hit, though ADRs are still sustaining at higher levels. Longer term, is there a saturation risk for Bangalore?
Vaibhav, this question needs to be answered at market level. If you look at our presence in Bangalore, it's Outer Ring Road, and clearly we are seeing new hotels open through this year in Outer Ring Road, Bangalore. We have, therefore, in our own underwriting, when you give a guidance of 9%-11% for the group level. In that asset, we've kind of moderated our expectations on growth, given the fact we have a large opening over the next 12 months in Outer Ring Road. Our second investment is in Whitefield, which is where we have the Tribute and the Westin. I think Westin has absorbed a lot of supply over the last decade, and now is coming to that turn where the new supply is not material over the existing base. Supply growth percentage is not setting in Whitefield, Bangalore.
The new supply in Bangalore is concentrated between airport and Hebbal. Which is really where the land is available, new office growth is happening. We have zero presence in that precinct. If you were to take the list of future supply in Bangalore, and I don't want to put a number to it because I don't have the data, but more than half of that future supply is concentrated in that 25-kilometer corridor. Start at the Bangalore International Airport and would end at Hebbal, which is where you have the Manyata Tech Park and all. I think it's a business of micro markets. It's not a business where supply and demand could be evaluated at a city level, to be honest with you. The same thing will apply to Hyderabad also, Vaibhav.
If you look at Hyderabad, there's a lot of announcements of new supply, but a lot of those announcements are not in the precincts of the micro markets where we have a current inventory or proposed inventory. All of this needs to be evaluated at a micro market level. That's one. Second is Bangalore as a market today is a total inventory of about-
17,000
17,000 rooms, 18,000 rooms.
INR 200.
Right. Bangalore needs to add 1,000 rooms more every year for it to be growing at 5% a year. Right. If supply is growing at 5%, which doesn't seem the case, by the way, in Bangalore, which means 1,000 rooms a year every year for the next five years. Right. The supply CAGR in Bangalore may be in the zip code of 5.5%, we need to make sure that demand continues to grow ahead of that. Right. Which obviously is a factor of GDP growth rate, growth of office, airlines, ancillary business, so on and so forth. I think the demand environment, the current supply base, the percentage supply growth in Tier 1 market is not a threat. Again, I will completely agree with you. We need to be cautious and evaluate it at a micro market level.
Understand, sir. Can I squeeze in last bookkeeping question, if I may?
Sure, please.
Just on W Hyderabad, you have said opening will be in 2027. Can you specify the quarter in which it will be opening?
What quarter?
To that, Hyatt Regency. Okay. Hyatt Regency Pune has been in pre-opening for last quarter as well. Any particular reason that we are still mentioning the status as pre-opening on that?
These are 22 apartments which are ready and waiting for the final approval, Vaibhav. Right. Sorry, this is not a hotel. The hotel is operating completely. These are 22 new apartments we have completed, we are waiting for the final regulatory approval. That's why unless we don't get that, it will unfortunately be seen as pre-opening.
Okay. On the revenue growth that you mentioned, 9%-11%, we had mentioned this same-store revenue growth will continue.
Sorry to interrupt in between, Vaibhav. I would request you to please stay on the queue again for more questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Prashant Biyani from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I had a follow-up question on the capital recycling that you answered to previous participant. You are recycling hotels which are struggling. If the ROC based on the market value of any of your hotels is less than what you desire because of increase in the market value of the hotel, then you are willing to recycle that capital also, if the understanding is right. In a way, sir, you are trying to operate a hotel which has a kind of mediocre ROC, looking to scale it up and then offload it. In that case, sir, aren't we kind of digressing our business model to trading off hotels also and not just running the hotels?
No, Prashant. I don't think we are trading hotels. In the last three years, we have sold three hotels or four hotels. Right? Number two, let me clarify. The hotels that we sell often are non-core hotels. We often have bought portfolios. When you buy a portfolio, you get hotels. Otherwise, on a standalone basis, you would have not bought. Therefore, they better be recycled and that money deployed in markets and assets that are core to you. I'll give you an example. Caspia Delhi, North Delhi. I know it looks like a Delhi zip code. North Delhi business is very different to the business we are used to operating in. I would want to clarify that it is not trading of hotels really. Our job is to build a very large portfolio of operating hotels.
If you look to any large income-producing hard asset business globally, the way to protect shareholder value in the long term is to ask yourself hard questions about is every asset creating future value. Now, not every year you'll get an answer that two hotels are not, but every two, three years, you will clearly get an asset or two where you feel that you are better off disposing of the asset to redeploy that in a higher return segment. It's not active trading, but it is a fiduciary that we evaluate the value of each hotel. We make sure that the hotels we own are geared to provide long-term value creation for our shareholders. If there is friction to that, I think it's a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that we do the right thing to redeploy that capital.
It does not make it as a trading of hotels, and the percentage of that remains to be minuscule. The impact, by the way, could be substantial, but the actual monetization program itself is a minuscule of what the value that we carry. Just to clarify that.
Sir, hotels which are struggling, recycling that capital is understandable. If the market value of any, I mean, the property prices of any micro market increases, and based on the market price, we are not able to, supposedly the ROC profile is not as per what we are targeting. In that case, sir, that is a bit confusing. In that case, I would be a bit confused if you are going to sell off your marquee hotels also may not be so frequently.
Prashant, I use the word non-core hotels. Even in the presentation, if you see, we have used the word non-core hotels. We are not going to sell a Courtyard by Marriott Bangalore or a Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel or a Hyatt Regency Pune. I think this is about some of the smaller hotels that we acquire in AGIC. We acquire sometimes as a part of our portfolio acquisitions. I don't think anybody needs to be worried about us tomorrow saying, "Oh, the value of Courtyard by Marriott Bangalore has become INR 3,000 crore in the market, and therefore our EBITDA is only INR 100 crore, should we sell it?" If you see the slide 10, we have used the word non-core hotels sold. It will always be applied to non-core hotels where their EBITDA contribution is negligible, their future EBITDA contribution to the group is even less than negligible.
You don't see the needle moving in terms of revenue growth, EBITDA growth, absolute revenue, absolute EBITDA because these are non-core hotels which have no material contribution to the portfolio.
Sure, sir. Thank you for the clarification.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Karan Kamdar from Choice Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, GIC, I believe, has committed around INR 750 odd crores, and we've received about INR 500 crores, INR 550 crores. There's some conditions precedent which are pending. Could you sort of elucidate on what are we expecting and when are we expecting the rest of the money?
We've received INR 600 crore so far. The balance investment is INR 150 crore. We expect that to come over the next two years period because that's coming in line with the CapEx spending on the Westin Tribute Bengaluru.
Got it, sir. Thank you. Are we expecting further such investments in a subsidiary platform or are we only expecting sales of entire assets?
No. As I mentioned earlier, in the short term, we've identified a few hotels, which total value should be about INR 200 odd crores. Clearly these are small hotels. At a subsidiary level, there is no plan as of date.
Okay, got it. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you. We will take the next question from the line of Viraj Mahadevia from MoneyGrow India. Please go ahead.
Ashish, big congratulations to you and the team on doing a fantastic job of managing the ship. Just a very quick question. Given your performance and ramp in earnings trading at a massive discount to sector, and maybe that's partly because of the leverage on the books and the fact that you've just become profitable two years ago. Given where the stock is trading, and I understand that growth and deleveraging are priorities, but would it make sense for management to consider carving out a small amount of capital for buybacks on a sustained basis?
Viraj, I'll address it in two, three things. Number one, multiples are decided by all of you. EBITDA is decided by us. We are fairly confident that notwithstanding the multiples, this company is a compounding machine when it comes to growth of revenue, EBITDA, and cash flow, and that itself will create phenomenal shareholder value. Okay. Number two, your question about would a cheap stock attract us towards looking at things like buyback. I would take everybody to that slide number. Just a second. I think slide number 16. This is an evolving discussion at a board level. Notwithstanding the share price or the discount, Viraj, we are under a fiduciary obligation to create shareholder value and allocate capital. I think our waterfall has already been stated on slide number 16.
The waterfall states that the first commitment that we have is to maintaining a strong balance sheet because that preserves all of our value.
Absolutely.
Viraj, you'll have to mute yourself. First is the deleveraging, 2.5x net debt to EBITDA. The reason we are comfortable with 2.5x is because A, all of our debt is circa around 12 years. We have very little principal repayment for the first three to five years. Our financing cost is now down to almost 7.9%. When you have the ability to carry such high-quality long-term debt with no repayment pressure, 2.5x clearly is a very accretive position to create shareholder value. Just wanted to articulate why 2.5x net debt to EBITDA and why not lower.
Second is clearly we need to make sure that the company has not just adequate but slightly more than adequate CapEx to fund its growth because when you're developing hotels, there's always a risk, as I think Karan articulated about cost overruns, inflation, and so on and so forth. The company needs to create reasonable buffers for no surprises. Third is we continue to feel that India provides tremendous growth opportunities in terms of continue to look at leases, so on and so forth. Having said that, we've become very efficient. If you see last year, all of our were leasehold or asset light and rare. Therefore, we have moved more rapidly than we would have imagined ourselves to be in a more capital-efficient growth model.
After all of that, if there is surplus capital, we have already committed that the board will consider a discipline mechanism to return capital directly to the shareholders. You're absolutely right. Any good company globally will have a capital allocation discipline. We have tried to set that discipline on slide number 16. It is going to be a continued discussion at a board investment committee level, but I think the discipline will decide what we do in future. You're absolutely right. I think we will be committed to making sure that we do everything in our means without disturbing long-term prospects for the company, but yet create shareholder value.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we will take that as the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you so much for a very engaging conversation. As I mentioned earlier, FY 2026 was a 12% revenue growth. While some may say it's good, some may say bad. From our perspective, we are excited because in spite of severe interruption, the company and the sector largely held on to a long-stated conviction that the demand-supply is in our favor. I think as we start seeing normalization of many disruptions we've seen during the past one year, the upside continues to be ahead of what we've delivered so far in the past, and that upside obviously goes straight to our bottom line and allows us to have a lot more flexibility to grow the SAMHI and also shareholder value. Thank you so much for all of your confidence and participation, and we look forward to speaking to you soon. Have a good day.
Thank you, members of the management. On behalf of SAMHI Hotels Limited, we conclude this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.