Meliá Hotels, one of the twenty largest hotel groups in the world, can now officially say that it has left the Pandemic behind. In the first nine months of the year the company recorded a net profit of 139.4 million euros, which is 28.3% more than in the same period of the previous year; It increased its income by 4.5%, reaching 1,544.1 million euros; and, most importantly, it returned to the pre-Pandemic net financial debt to Ebidta ratio.
That was the group’s objective, to achieve a gross operating result (Ebitda) without capital gains of at least 525 million euros, something that has been achieved as explained today in a statement.
In September, the company’s liquidity situation was at 482.3 million euros and the pre-IFRS 16 net financial debt had been reduced to 832.2 million euros (-60 million euros in the third quarter). thanks to the generation of operating cash.
«The company faces the last quarter of 2024 with greater strength, which is reflected in a strong boost to the quantitative and qualitative growth of our portfolio.in a more resilient business model and greater efficiency in margins, as well as in a more solid balance sheet, with a Net Financial Debt to Ebitda ratio that, by recovering pre-pandemic levels, will consider the worst legacy of Covid and “It will allow us to open a new stage of value generation,” said the group’s president, Gabriel Escarrer.
The publication of these results has been accompanied by the announcement of the opening of a minimum of nine more hotels between now and the end of the year. We must remember, the company has experienced sensational growth in the last two years and is close to exceeding the milestone of 400 establishments.
Well, to these nine hotels that will open between now and the end of the year we must add the possibility of opening a luxury hotel portfolio in Argentina through management contracts, which is in the study phase, as reported today by the company.
At this moment the operational portfolio is 357 hotels, but there are another 71 in the process of incorporation. 66.8% of this offer is luxury or premium, which is good at a business level because it is usually more resilient than the lower categories.
Growth normalization
Regarding the business in the first nine months of the year, the gross operating result (Ebitda) was 428.6 million euros, which represents 10.8% compared to the same period in 2023. The net income for available room (RevPAR), in turn, increased 11.9% until September (10.7% more in the third quarter).
“The first nine months of the year confirm a healthy trend towards normalization of growth, although the arrivals of national and international tourists once again exceeded the records of the previous year, as well as the average expenditure per visitor,” said the president and CEO of Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer.
Regarding these statements, it must be remembered that the tourism sector in Spain has not focused on visitor records for some time, quite the opposite. The truth is that this year tourism has continued to grow and break records, but it does so in a more moderate way compared to the ‘boom’ after the Pandemic. As ABC already explained, the Exceltur employer’s association celebrated it, because “Spain will never have a demand problem, so we should not try to break tourist records but citizen satisfaction records,” explained its president.
Regarding the forecasts for the fourth quarter, Meliá has assured that they are good and hopes to meet the objective of achieving double-digit growth. It must be remembered, in the third quarter of the year the profit of the Escarrer family hotel company stood at 88.1 million euros (40.9% more than in the same quarter of 2023 when it earned 62.5 million. This allowed it to achieve a gross operating result (Ebitda) of 188.3 million euros, exceeding that registered in the same quarter of 2023 by 11.8%.
Regarding revenues, these rose by 2.7% in the third quarter to reach 584.1 million euros, with the coasts and the Balearic Islands being the areas that recorded the best evolution, with the British and Spanish markets especially standing out. Revenue per room (RevPar) also improved significantly, up 10.7% from the same quarter in 2023.
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