PROTEA HOTELS ACHIEVES HIGHEST EMPOWERDEX RATING - 30 November 2005

Following closely on the recent Protea Hospitality Corporation announcement of their 54% Black Economic Empowerment stake holding, the group is pleased to announce that they have achieved an industry first, with a double A (AA) Empowerdex rating. Empowerdex, an independent economic empowerment rating and research agency has awarded Protea with the highest empowerment rating as achieved in the Tourism sector to-date, identifying Protea's scorecard as an industry benchmark. "We have improved on our Triple B (BBB) rating, as achieved in 2004, largely due to the increase in our BEE shareholding, which is an unparalleled 24% higher than the Tourism Charter's 2014 target," said Mr Zwilenkosi Mdletshe, Group Corporate Affairs Director for Protea Hotels.

Protea believe that this is the authenticity of economic broad based transformation in South Africa, and that the hospitality industry is successfully achieving goals and targets that have been outlined by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. "As an industry, we are impacting on transformation in this country and Protea is delighted to be leading the way, in the hope that the entire industry will follow suit," added Mdletshe.

Empowerdex Black Economic Empowerment rating is an efficient and in-depth verification process in order to establish the BEE status of a business. The Empowerdex rating is currently adopted by various corporate entities with a combined procurement budget exceeding R10 Billion. The procurement officers utilise the database and rating to ensure that their affirmative procurement initiatives support and develop genuine BEE enterprises.