The hotel company NH Hotels loses its name as a traditional company in favor of that of its owners since 2018, the Thai chain Minor Hotels Europe
In the eyes of the public, however, the trademark does not disappear. NH Hotels
The CEO, Ramón Aragonés, addressed the shareholders at the beginning of the Meeting pointing out that the good data of 2023 will be maintained or surpassed in 2024. "Everything indicates that 2024 is going to be the best year in history, in which we will beat all the ratios of 2023", he stated. The manager announced that between January and March of this year, average occupancy has increased by two percentage points, up to 62%. The average rate per night has risen by six euros, to 121 euros, and revenues for the quarter have grown by 13% compared to those recorded in the same period of the previous year, to 460 million.
Furthermore, during his speech, Aragonés reviewed the group's results in 2023, the year in which NH (now Minor) "managed to surpass all the metrics of 2019, the last year before the pandemic. Revenues reached 2,163 million euros last year , with increases of 23% compared to 2022, and 26% compared to 2019".
Gross operating profit (EBITDA) was 327 million euros last year, compared to 294 million euros in 2019 and 250 million euros in 2022. Net profit amounted to 128 million euros last year, 28 million euros more than in 2022 and 38 million euros more than in 2019.
Aragonés has attributed the fact that 2023 revenues and profits have been "the highest in the history of the group", above all, “to the continuous optimization of the hotel portfolio; to cost control; to the increase of 13% in the average income per occupied room, reaching 138 euros per night, and to the increase of seven percentage points in occupancy for the year as a whole, up to 68%.” And the data for the first quarter, which beat the previous year's record, already underpin a new year of success.
The vice president of NH Hotel Group also explained that the main shareholder of the Spanish chain, Minor International, "does not consider a delisting from the stock market" after criticism from some minority shareholders who demanded a delisting takeover bid "at fair prices."
"At this time Minor International is not considering a delisting takeover bid. With the evolution of the business and the circumstances, it could occur or not," the manager said at the meeting.
Despite the good year 2023, the company will not distribute a dividend this year. The board of directors decided to allocate 10% of the results, 39.8 million euros, to a legal reserve and 35.8 million to compensate for the negative results of previous years.
"We have preferred to compensate for the losses incurred from the conviction that it allows us to strengthen ourselves corporately, provides solidity to our future and helps us lay the foundations for a much more stable company with a vocation for leadership," said the manager, indicating that "every year "The board will raise the issue of the dividend and it will be approved or not."
The CEO has also considered that the company's gross financial debt was reduced by 129 million euros last year, ending the year at 480 million euros. As of December 31, 2020, it was 1,006 million euros, which in three years has managed to be reduced to less than half.
Aragonés has also indicated that the company will maintain its growth focus on the high segments of its brands. Of the new openings around the world that the company is targeting by the end of 2026, more than 50 hotels are planned in Europe, with more properties also being added in the Americas. These new openings will include additions to the Anantara, Tivoli and NH Collection brands, under a combination of management agreements and flexible leases, both fixed and variable.
The CEO of Minor Hotels Europe
The Shareholders' Meeting has also approved the annual accounts and individual and consolidated management reports for last year, the consolidated non-financial information statement, the application of the result to the legal reserve, the compensation of negative results from previous years, and the management of the Board of directors.
Sunday School directors Stephen Andrew Chojnacki, William Ellwood Heinecke and Emmanuel Jude Dillipraj Rajakarier, as well as executive director Rufino Perez Fernandez, have also been re-elected for the statutory three-year term. The appointments of independent directors Miriam González-Amézqueta, Tomás López Fernebrand and Maria Segimon de Manzanos were also ratified.
