Hotel group Dalata is to raise a further €160 million in additional equity to fund more hotel purchases.

The company made the announcement while reporting pre-tax profits of €2.7 million for the six months to the end of June, up from €900,000 for the corresponding period last year.

Dalata, which raised €256 million in equity in an IPO last year, has a portfolio of 46 hotels, half of which are located in Dublin.

It plans to sell another 42.7 million shares at €3.75 per share, which represents a discount of nearly 7 per cent on yesterday’s close.

The proceeds will be used to finance further hotel acquisitions and develop capital expenditure on existing assets as well as new build opportunities, the group said.

Its half-year results also indicate revenue for the period rose 180 per cent to €97.7 million.

Dalata said its results for the first half reflect a business that has been “transformed” by the acquisition of nine Moran Bewley hotels in February and five additional hotels in the period, in addition to three hotels acquired in the second half of 2014.

It also said that the integration of the acquired hotels was now complete and that the Clayton Hotel brand had been successfully launched at ten properties across Ireland and the UK.

“In addition to a strong set of results, we also announce our intention to raise €160 million in additional equity to fund further acquisitions,” chief executive Pat McCann said.

“This underlines our belief that there will continue to be opportunities to acquire well located assets at attractive valuations together with attractive investment opportunities to expand facilities at the hotels that we have already acquired.”

“We also see an opportunity to develop new hotels in Dublin where there has been very limited supply of new hotels in the last eight years,” he added.