New York, NY, July 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) grows by 7.7% in global terms, exclusively thanks to better prices, increasing by 15.7% in hotels in Spain

The Group highlights the evolution of the Premium hotels in Seville, Barcelona, Majorca, Sancti Petri and Madrid, where the Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques is now amongst the 3 top hotels in Madrid according to TripAdvisor

Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International: “The first half of 2017 reveals a solid evolution both in the level of income and RevPAR, as a result of our effort to maintain the competitive edge that makes us leaders in the holiday segment, and the excellent position gained in the emerging “bleisure” segment, where we are leaders in offering customers high added value experiences and services. Meliá has also continued to actively invest in the repositioning of the portfolio in order to increase its profitability, to enhance our brands’ penetration in the superior and luxury segments, and to be ready for the summer season, which is critically important for our operations throughout the world”.

 

Business evolution:

Total revenue grows by 7% Global RevPAR grew by 7,7% Ebitda improved by 9 % (excluding asset rotation) The results are negatively affected by the synthetic exchange rate adopted for the Venezuelan Bolívar  

Financial management:

The net debt decreased by €48m up to June, and confirms the commitment to remain within a Net Debt/Ebitda ratio of between 2 and 2.5x The exchange rate differences due to the dollar’s evolution versus the euro in the 2nd quarter had a negative effect on the financial result, despite the positive impact of the lower interest rate, that fell from 3.8% in 1H 2016, to the current 3.3%  

Expansion and management model:

The company maintains a development pipeline of 72 hotels (18,000 rooms) 91% of the hotels in the pipeline are under management contracts To date, Meliá has signed 19 new hotels in 2017 The Group expects to increase the contribution and weight of the management component in the Ebitda in the medium term  

Digital transformation process:

Sales of melia.com rose by 19.6% to June MeliaPro, the new relationship platform with B2B professionals, increased sales by 20%  

Forecasts 2017: A very positive evolution is expected in the 3rd quarter, which historically has been the strongest period for the Group The increase in RevPAR is attributed almost completely to prices, which improve especially in the Mediterranean and Canary Islands An improvement is expected in Ebitda and margins driven by the contribution of assets transformed for repositioning, and new incorporations in the launch process

 

Palma de Mallorca, 27 July 2017.- Meliá Hotels International has presented its results for the first quarter of 2017, in which it earned 60.4 million euros, 34% up on the same period in 2016.  Total income grew by 6.8% and the Ebitda, excluding capital gains due to asset rotation, was €147.2 million, an increase of 9.2%.

The improved RevPAR (7.7 in global terms) based 100% on the “price” component and supported by a 19.6% increase in the sales of melia.com, lies behind these positive results despite the negative impact, both in revenue (€-7.6m) and Ebitda (€-2.1m), of the Company’s decision to apply a new synthetic exchange rate for the Venezuelan Bolívar.

The financial results, thanks to a €48m reduction in the net debt in the 2nd quarter of the year, which enabled the net debt/Ebitda ratio to be maintained at between 2 and 2.5 times, and the reduction of the average cost of financing over the first quarter of 2016 partially offset the negative impact of the exchange rate differences of the dollar against the euro in the last quarter. The group reaffirms its commitment to continue improving its margins by maintaining its financial rigour.

The Group continues committed to its international expansion with 19 new hotels signed in 2017 to date, focusing on a more asset light business model based on management, as shown by the fact that 91 % of the hotels in the pipeline were signed under management contracts. The company also continues to advance in its B2B digital strategy, in which the MICE segment is highly relevant, and the new relationship platform with B2B professionals, MeliaPro, increased its sales by 20% period.

The strategy of renovating and repositioning the hotel assets to achieve greater profitability and in line with the new view of its brands and greater penetration in the superior and premium segments, pursued in recent years, has now begun to bear fruit. The Group and its partners invested over 500 million euros between 2011 and 2016 in urban and holiday hotels in Spain, achieving remarkable results like the case of the hotels in Ibiza, which after re-branding and repositioning increased their overall RevPAR by 300%, or those in Torremolinos ( that have already doubled its operating profit and expect a further growth once the repositioning is completed), and Magaluf, with an overall increase of 83% in the RevPAR. Torremolinos and Magaluf are paradigmatic success cases of renovation and repositioning of pioneer touristic destinations. Regarding  city hotels in the luxury segment, the Gran Meliá Palacio de los Duques, in Madrid,  has already exceeded an average price of €300, and has increased its Revenues by 135% after its rebranding and repositioning.  Overall, the luxury hotels of the group in Spain increased their revenue by 19.6% in the first quarter of 2017.

Results by Divisions (2nd Quarter)

Milestones: Positive evolution partially overshadowed by the RevPAR fall in Venezuela over the 1st Half. Improvements led by the Dominican Republic and Mexico (Cancun and Riviera Maya above all)

Sales melia.com: +20.4%

Outlook 2017: positive evolution expected both in the resorts and in the urban hotels (NY, Miami after the ramp-up) and planned contribution of the reopening of ME Cancun and opening of Meliá Cartagena

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Milestones: Germany (-0.5%) affected by the smaller number of trade fairs, strong recovery in UK (+10.8% in Pounds), positive though slow evolution (+1.5%) in France, above all in MICE, Italy (+4.3%) solid general evolution. The premium hotels in Spain (included in the EMEA perimeter) showed the best behaviour (+19.6 revenue)

Sales melia.com: + 14.8%

Outlook 2017: solid results in urban hotels and bleisure of the region in the face of growing demand in all countries and thanks to the repositioning of the portfolio to attract higher segments and new sources of income

(*) Including Premium hotels in Spain

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Milestones: positive evolution despite keeping some hotels closed for improvement and repositioning. The combination of an excellent climate and the pull on demand, together with the perception of greater quality, drove growth with respect to 2016.

Sales melia.com:  +25.2%

Outlook 2017: a positive third quarter is expected (historically the strongest quarter for the division) in all areas, focused on improving prices rather than occupation and maximising operative efficiency in the recently repositioned hotels. Good perspectives and on-the-books sales for the rest of the year.

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Milestones: significant improvement in Ebitda margin (+358 base points). Madrid (+20%) Andalusia (+19%) and the north of Spain and East Coast (+12%) led revenue by rooms. The general evolution and that of the MICE segment, in line with the recovery of the Spanish economy.

Sales Meliá.com: +15.6%

Outlook 2017: the double-digit growth in the on-the-books sales – and the abundance of trade fairs point to an excellent third quarter, despite closing some hotels for refurbishment and improvements.

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Milestones: outstanding evolution of Varadero, Cayo Coco and Santiago, and growing competition of “collaborative economy” models in Havana

Sales Melia.com: +30.6%

Outlook 2017: a positive behaviour is expected from the hotels in 2017 with similar occupations to 2016. The greatest challenge will be the development of the relations with the new United States government, after the announcement of certain changes and restrictions, which will have to be watched.

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Milestones:  the better evolution of the regional economy, demand and operative efficiency, along with the improvement in the hotels, led to a strong increase in income in the first quarter. All of the hotels of the region grew, with the exception of Gran Meliá Jakarta, due to the bad performance of the destination, and income from third-party management fees increased by 31.1%. RevPAR weighed down by the large number of rooms in “ramp-up” (launch phase) due to a high number of hotel openings

Sales Melia.com: +34.7%

Outlook 2017: positive expectations of our operations in Asia, based on the economic evolution of some regions and the potential growth of our model, which will be optimised as it achieves an adequate scale. We will continue to intensify the focus on the resorts segment in order to maximise our competitive edge over the international competition, although we will continue to sign contracts in some the urban areas that are priority for our brands, especially in China.

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Milestones: the economic situation and the political crisis are maintained, weakening private and public demand and with a greater impact given our exposure to the urban segment in the country.  As a positive datum, the management fees increased by 19.3%

Sales Melia.com: +6.8%

Outlook 2017: The positive macroeconomic perspectives for the coming months herald better occupation and prices

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE MANAGEMENT (ESG)

As the leading company in its sector in corporate reputation in Spain, according to MERCO índex, Meliá Hotels International pays great attention to the environmental and social aspects and of corporate governance. In its half-yearly report, the group included the results and commitments in the area of responsible consumption of resources, which include an emissions measurement programme (SAVE) that has allowed Meliá to reduce its hydric consumptions per client by 7%, and CO2 emissions per client by 12% in the first quarter of the year 

Equally, the Company is committed to using renewable energies and more efficient systems, having installed over 22.500 LEDs in 2017, and has reported  a 12% saving in electricity consumption per stay, and a decrease in diesel consumption per stay of 32%. Work is also being done on 11 projects with energy service suppliers and companies. Furthermore, after the public assumption of commitment as part of the Paris Agreements OP21, Meliá joint the Climate Change Cluster coordinated by Forética, which gathers 50 of the principal Spanish companies.

 

In the first quarter, the Company achieved a series of important recognitions in these areas:

Leading Company in Sustainability (The European Global ESG Leaders Awards 2017. Thomson Reuters).

ESG Leader of the Year – Gabriel Escarrer Jaume (The European Global ESG Leaders Awards 2017. Thomson Reuters).

Merco Companies – Spanish tourist company with best corporate reputation (5th year running). Overall position 13/100 (+4) among the best companies in Spain.

Merco Leaders – Gabriel Escarrer Jaume. Best reputed Tourist Executive. Overall position 31/100 (+14) among the best executives in Spain.

Forbes Spain Ranking 50 Best CEOS of the Year – Gabriel Escarrer Jaume.

Universum 2017 – 7th Most attractive company for working in Spain (University students)

Randstad Award 2017 – Most attractive company for working in Spain (hostelry)

Digital Talent – Accenture “Talent & Workforce” Prize for the management of talent on the social networks

 

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About Meliá Hotels International

Founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Meliá Hotels International is one of the largest hotel companies worldwide as well as the absolute leader within the Spanish market, with more than 375 hotels (current portfolio and pipeline) throughout more than 43 countries and 4 continents, operated under the brands: Gran Meliá Hotels & Resorts, Paradisus by Meliá, ME by Meliá, Meliá Hotels & Resorts, Innside by Meliá, Sol by Meliá and TRYP by Wyndham. The strategic focus on international growth has allowed Meliá Hotels International to be the first Spanish hotel company with presence in key markets such as China, the Arabian Gulf or the US, as well as maintaining its leadership in traditional markets such as Europe, Latin America or the Caribbean. Its high degree of globalization, a diversified business model, the consistent growth plan supported by strategic alliances with major investors and its commitment to responsible tourism are the major strengths of Meliá Hotels International, being the Spanish Hotel leader in Corporate Reputation (Merco Ranking) and one of the most attractive to work worldwide. Meliá Hotels International is included in the IBEX 35 Spanish stock market index. Follow Meliá Hotels International on Twitter @MeliaHotelsInt and Facebook meliahotelsinternationalwww.melia.com.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a6087a91-1912-499e-a557-3757c3936486

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/60726f49-7ae2-4245-91e5-b5b66fb00cf9

CONTACT: DKC
Meliá Hotels International (MHI)
2129815119
[email protected]