Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.
's (
OEH
) search for a competent and permanent chief executive officer
(CEO) has finally come to an end. Recently, the company revealed
that it has appointed John M. Scott III for the position of chief
executive officer (CEO), president and director, who will replace
the current interim CEO, Philip Mengel. Mengel, however, will
continue to serve as a director on its board.
Mengel had been serving as interim CEO since May 2012, following
the chairman of the Board, J. Robert Lovejoy's decision to bow
out from his 10-month tenure as interim CEO. The management churn
came in the wake of the resignation of Paul White from the
position of president and CEO in July 2011. Since then,
Orient-Express was on an extensive lookout for a suitable
successor.
The newly appointed CEO, Scott, has donned important roles in his
illustrious career. Before joining Orient-Express, Scott held the
post of president and CEO at Rosewood Hotels & Resorts - a
renowned upscale hotel brand comprising 17 properties across
seven countries with combined revenues of more than $500 million.
Under his leadership, Rosewood reached to a new height. His
supervision doubled the number of hotels under management,
substantially scaled up the company's EBITDA and built up an
active development pipeline of new hotel projects.
With his vast know-how in the ultra-luxury lodging sector, Scott
can easily be tagged as a veteran in this sector. With his
affluent knowledge in strategy development, operation, finance
and brand building, we expect him to provide meaningful support
to Orient-Express.
As a point of reference, Orient-Express had declined the takeover
bid from The Indian Hotels Company Ltd. owned by Tata Group,
considering that the offer price of $12.63 per share was not
sufficient for the property.
We remain cautious on the stock at the current level based on its
top-line miss in the second and third quarters of the year.
Hence, the new role for Scott, as the CEO at Orient, invests him
with additional responsibility in a sluggish business
environment.
Orient-Express which competes with the likes of
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
(
H
), currently retains a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term
'Hold' rating on the stock. We are also maintaining our long-term
'Neutral' recommendation on the stock.
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