Meliá considers the coronavirus crisis to be over and looks to the recovery with optimism. The leading Spanish hotel group, with a portfolio of 378 hotels (330 in operation and 48 signed), has obtained a net profit of three million euros in the first half of 2022which represents the first positive result since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in the first quarter of 2019. Between January and June, revenues increased by 143.6% per year to reach 741.5 million euros, at only 1.3 point of pre-pandemic levels.
“The trends framing our first-half results are, without a doubt, the very strong attraction of tourist demand, qualified by some as “revenge travel”, in reaction to the restrictions suffered by the world population, a demand that comes with less price sensitivity, a factor that weighs less than quality, safety or flexibility in the minds of the post-Covid travel consumer. Third, the persistence of a high level of inflation and a significant level of uncertainty about the future has not been able to restrain consumption in the short and medium term in tourism”, underlined Gabriel Escarrer, CEO of Melia.
Confirms it will achieve 400 million EBITDA and reduce debt by 250 million this year
This recovery in revenues and profits led Escarrer to reconfirm the messages sent to Meliá shareholders at the last General Meeting of Shareholders. The company expects to close this year with an operating result (EBITDA) of more than 400 million euros and a debt reduction of 250 million euros. The CEO also confirmed that the company is preparing another major divestiture as that of June 2021, in which 204 million were obtained after the sale of eight hotels. The amount will be similar and the transaction will close in the last quarter of 2022.
The main mole of the company remains the high level of indebtednesswhich was barely reduced by 3.4 million euros to 1,330 million euros, “negatively impacted by the appreciation of the dollar against the euro. In any case, the company points out that the liquidity position currently stands at 320 millionwhich equates to debt commitments for the next two years, which stopped consuming cash after overcoming Ómicron and that the disposal will serve to achieve this goal of reducing liabilities by 250 million.
Prepares a new asset valuation for the fourth quarter of 2022
Meliá has also confirmed its intention to start a new valuation of the assets by an independent third party, in the fourth quarter of 2022. The latest valuation corresponds to July 2018, in which the consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle estimated the value of real estate assets at 4,386 million, of which 3,758 corresponded to those accounted for by global integration and 628 to assets held by associated entities. This figure represents a 23.2% increase from the previous assessment in 2015.