Dalata Hotel Group has completed the €25m share buyback it announced in October.

The Clayton and Maldron hotels operator purchased close to 5.6m shares from investors at an average price of €4.47 per share.

Following the settlement of all buy-back purchases and the cancellation of the ordinary shares purchases, the group will have nearly 211.5m ordinary shares in issue.

Before Christmas, Norwegian property group Eiendomsspar built up a 5.45% stake in Dalata after first disclosing its interest in the group in October.

Earlier this month, Dalata sold its Clayton Whites Hotel Wexford to Neville Hotels for €21m, and the group now has a portfolio of 55 owned and leased hotels with 11,990 rooms and a pipeline for a further 870 rooms.

Dalata described trading in the second half of 2024 as robust, and said it expected to report 4% annual growth and deliver adjusted EBITDA in excess of €232m for the full year.

For the first six months of last year, Dalata reported revenue of €302m, basic earnings per share of 16 cents and free cashflow per share of 21.5 cents.

The Dublin and London-listed company has €1.7bn in hotel assets, primarily in Ireland and the UK and has plans for further expansion in Britain and continental Europe.

Photo: Dalata Hotel Group CEO Dermot Crowley and Chief Marketing Officer Roma O’Connor. (Pic: File)