Shangri-La Asia 2nd-Half Net Rises as Sales Increase

Expansion Shangri-La Asia plans to increase the number of hotels it runs to 80 ``plus'' by late 2009, brining the total number of rooms it manages to about 36,000, Rao said. The company will open a 195-room hotel in the proposed 70-story, 310-meter-tall London Bridge Tower in late 2009, its first in Europe. Shangri-La is seeking more hotels in Europe and in Macau, a former Portuguese colony in China where casinos are legal, Chief Executive Giovanni Angelini said. The company is seeking only a management contract in Macau because it's not interested in the gaming business, he said at the press conference.