TIDMLONR

RNS Number : 1152L

Lonrho PLC

27 July 2011

27 July 2011

Lonrho Plc

("Lonrho" or the "Company")

Lonrho Awarded Exclusive Master Franchise

For an easyHotel Network across Africa

Launching the $29 a night budget hotel room in Africa

Lonrho Plc's wholly owned subsidiary, Lonrho Budget Hotels Ltd, has signed a 20 year master franchise agreement ("MFA") with easyHotel to open and operate an easyHotel network across Africa. The MFA provides Lonrho with the exclusive rights to the easyHotel brand in Africa and sets out an agreed opening schedule for fifty properties by 2016.

The opening schedule will focus on African destinations already served by easyJet, as well as other large cities across the continent, which have demonstrated significant domestic and international demand for clean, safe and consistent quality branded hotel accommodation.

The hotels will be branded 'easyHotel.com' and designated as 'a Lonrho Hotel' to build maximum market presence and credibility. The 'easy' brand, owned by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is one of the worlds most recognised and successful value for money brands.

easyHotel is a well established chain of budget hotels based in London with hotels spanning from as far north as Edinburgh and as far south as Dubai, focused on delivering high quality, international-standard bedrooms at an affordable price. Typical easyHotel customers seek a modern, comfortable bedroom for the night, placing a higher priority on exceptional value rather than the peripheral services that make traditional hotels more expensive. easyHotel will be the first trans-continental hotel brand in Africa specifically designed to be accessible to many, not a select few. easyHotel's unique low-cost business model permits the customer to enjoy an international standard bedroom at a highly competitive price.

easyHotel has a sophisticated booking system to maximise customer discounts. Rates vary based on how far in advance the room is booked, personal requirements during a stay and other criteria. This system enables easyHotel to provide highly competitive accommodation rates starting as low as US$29 per night.

Africa is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The African market is being stimulated by an increasing inflow of tourist and business visitors combined with an indigenous population of a billion people with a rapidly growing disposable income. (McKinsey forecast that indigenous African consumer spending will be $1.6 trillion by 2020.)

Commenting on the MFA, David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of Lonrho said:

"Lonrho is already a significant brand name across Africa. We believe that combining it with the 'easy' brand, which is well-known for highly successful budget operations; to create the Lonrho 'easyHotel' chain will satisfy the growing demand from consumers across the continent. Each Lonrho easyHotel will provide quality, clean, safe, consistent, and branded hotel accommodation from as low as US$29 per night.

"We are delighted to have the exclusive rights to develop the easyHotel concept across Africa. The low-cost value hotel market is currently undeveloped on the continent yet is arguably the fastest growing sector of the global and African hotel markets.

"Lonrho plans to open the first easyHotel in Africa in 2012 and intends to grow the chain rapidly after that, to more than fifty hotels by 2016, taking the Lonrho easyHotel to the majority of the larger cities across the continent."

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Chairman of easyGroup commented:

"easyGroup is delighted to be working exclusively with Lonrho to develop the easyHotel network across Africa. We look forward to working closely with Lonrho to establish easyHotel as the pre-eminent pan-African budget hotel chain.

"The economic development of the African market, supported by the significant number of foreign visitors, large scale urbanisation and the growing disposable income of the one billion people in the domestic market, clearly provides demand for a safe, value for money, budget hotel chain of consistent, predictable quality."

Enquiries

 
 Lonrho Plc               +44 (0) 20 7016 5105 
 David Lenigas 
 Geoffrey White 
 David Armstrong 
 
 Panmure Gordon           +44 (0) 20 7459 3600 
 Tim Linacre 
 Dominic Morley 
 Adam Pollock 
 Hannah Woodley 
 
 Pelham Bell Pottinger    +44 (0) 20 7861 3232 
 Charles Vivian 
 

James MacFarlane

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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