The company Libertas 7 has closed the first quarter with a favorable evolution of the pace of activity. In this period, the Valencian business group has registered progress in all business areas with increases in real estate sales, invoicing and tourist reservations, and in the profitability of its investment portfolio. Among the highlights is the turnover of its Tourist Area, Sea You Hotels, which has increased its turnover and reservations by 52% for the current year.
The net amount of the Tourism Area's turnover, at the end of the first quarter of 2024, stands at 0.5 million euros, which represents an increase of 47% compared to the same period in 2023. This increase is based in an improvement in average occupancy, which goes from 32.5% to 50%, and an increase in the average price per room/apartment of 3.4%. Consequently, RevPar has improved by 60.5% in this first quarter compared to the respective quarter of 2023 despite the fact that it is the period most affected by the seasonality of the business.
The company confirms that reservations for the high season and the rest of the months of 2024 are coming in "at a good pace" and thus, the total amount of real billing plus reservations does place at the end of the first quarter at 2 million euros, an important difference with 1.3 million euros from the same period in 2023 and placing the increase at 52%.
On the other hand, FICSA, the real estate area of Libertas 7, has continued its sales plan and launch of new projects. With the developments and plots in the portfolio, the company has covered the planned deliveries to clients until 2027. In the aforementioned period, 21 new reservations were completed for an amount of 5.2 million euros in the different developments underway, for a cumulative total of 19 million euros. "The sales rate is in line with the planned budget, although prices continue to gradually improve," the company shares.
Likewise, the total value of the investment area portfolio closes the first quarter of 2024 with a total value of 62.8 million euros, 3.9% higher than the close of the first quarter of 2023.
Its profitability has been 4%, "significantly lower" than the reference indices due, according to the company, to the fact that some companies in the luxury sector, with a strong presence in their stock market portfolio, have published annual guides that foresee sales reduction. Libertas 7 considers that the undervaluation of the sector offers a good opportunity for the company to take long-term positions, continuing with its value investment philosophy. "During the quarter we have made purchases on the stock market for 1.5 million and sales for 2.4 million, obtaining a return on capital gains from divestments of 33.3%. Regarding the private capital portfolio, the different investees have evolved positively during the quarter. quarter, with various divestments planned during 2024 that we expect will contribute benefits to our income statement for the year.”
Agnès Noguera, CEO of Libertas 7, has positively assessed the performance of the first quarter of 2024 taking into account the seasonality of tourist activity, the evolution of the financial markets and the difficult comparison in the real estate area since no the writing of no promotion during the period as was done in the first quarter of 2023. “FICSA's reservations have evolved very positively at the beginning of the year, as well as those of Sea You Hotels. We hope to obtain positive results from our private capital investments throughout the year, as well as realize capital gains from investments in the Stock Market," she stressed.
