Meliá Hotels International obtained a consolidated attributable profit of 110.7 million euros in the 2022 financial year, which means abandoning the ‘red numbers’ of the previous year, when it had losses of 192.9 million euros.
On the other hand, the consolidated result was a profit of 120.1 million euros compared to the losses of 197.9 million euros of the previous year. As the hotel company notified the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) this Monday, this profit figure is only 1.3% below the 121.7 million euros of 2019, a year before the pandemic. .
Likewise, revenue for 2022 amounted to 1,692 million euros, 87.5% more than the previous year, and bordering on pre-pandemic figures, since they are 6.1% below the turnover of 2019. The gross result The group’s operating profit (Ebitda) reached 430.8 million, more than triple (+243.2%) than in 2021, while operating profit reached 201.1 million euros compared to losses of 145.3 million of 2021.
The hotel company highlights that these results are marked by tourism at an international level and that, despite a first quarter weighed down by the Ómicron variant, the improved group recovered figures throughout the rest of the year, even managing to exceed in the second semester the figures registered in 2019.
“We present these results without forgetting the prudence recommended by the situation, but with the optimism that market confidence instills in us, embodied in an increase in daily bookings through our own channels at high double-digit levels compared to the same dates of 2019, which also shows the expected return of advance bookings”, assured the executive vice president and delegate of the hotel, Gabriel Escarrer. The company has generated an operating cash flow of 76 million euros and has reduced its net financial debt by 180, 2 million euros Liquidity amounted to approximately 380 million euros at the end of 2022.
Together with the generation of operating cash and in order to reduce financial leverage, the company continues to work on the sale of assets. Thus, in December it published a new valuation of its assets, carried out by CBRE, which shows an increase of 5.8% in the value of its assets owned and in ‘joint ventures’, up to 4,641 million euros, reflecting an increase in the average value per room of 21.2%. One of the company’s priorities is to reduce debt by generating operating cash and selling assets.
33 new hotels in 2021
From the point of view of the hotel business, the company modified an increase in profit per available room (RevPAR) of 5.4% compared to 2019, thanks to the improvement in the average rate (+21%), while the average occupancy it was still 12.9% below 2019. Compared to the previous year, the group’s RevPar improved by +88%, with improvements of 26% in the average rate, and 20.31 occupancy points.
Meliá hotels opened 33 new hotels in 2022, with more than 8,200 new rooms, and opened another 33, adding 7,610 rooms. With all of this, it already exceeds 100,000 rooms, between operational hotels and hotels scheduled to open in the next 2 years. Looking ahead to 2023, it plans to open 30 hotels.
Increase in online sales
The hotel’s website channels 43.3% of centralized sales and registers a sales increase of 73.7% compared to 2021. In 2022, the group especially highlights the strong recovery of the brokerage segment, and sales with distribution partners via its B2B channel, MeliaPro, which grew by 67%. The hotel company ensures that digitization, purchasing management and efficient use of resources have allowed it to “minimize the impact of inflation”.
Regarding responsible management, Meliá once again positioned itself as the most sustainable company in the world in the ‘Hotels and Cruises’ sector in 2022 according to Standard & Poor’s Global, it also revalidated its certification as an employer company in Spanish and CA, Mexico obtains it in Germany and Italy.
Meliá Hotels assures that investor confidence has been reflected in the increase in the participation of two significant shareholders of the group: the holding company Hoteles Mallorquines Agrupados, a company owned by the Escarrer family, which increased by 0.5%, and the fund Canadian Global Alpha, which after the latest acquisitions has gone from 5.118% to 10.14% of the capital (as of January 2023).
Very favorable prospects for 2023
In 2023, Meliá expects to open a minimum of 30 hotels in 14 countries in Europe, Asia, America, Africa and the Middle East. 92% of these hotels are included in the company’s priority expansion regions, such as the three opening in Southeast Asia, the four new establishments in Africa and the Middle East, the eight planned in the Caribbean and those opening in the Mediterranean basin and the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
The expansion of the group continues to prioritize low-capital-intensive formulas, especially management and franchise contracts, which represent more than 99% of the openings scheduled for 2023, consolidating itself as a key agent for the sustainability of destinations”, Escarrer assured. .
The company continues to maintain “prudent optimism” for this year 2023 with double-digit growth compared to 2019 reserves. in terms of occupancy.
