Melia Hotels Intl Ord

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Meliá's fourth quarter and full year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. I am Stefan Baus, Head of Investor Relations. For the time being, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After the presentation, anybody who is interested will have a chance to ask questions so we can address any additional doubts. Please note, this event is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our discussion this afternoon will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, and forward-looking statements made today speak only to our expectations as of today. This afternoon, as usual, on the call with me today are Gabriel Escader, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Andres Gerondo, our Chief Operating Officer Angel Luis Rodriguez, our Chief Financial Officer Juan Ignacio Pardo, our Chief Real Estate Officer and myself. Our President and CEO will provide an overall overview for the company's performance. Andres will then review our fourth quarter onwards. Following these remarks, we will be happy to take your questions In any case, the Investor Relations team will be available following this conference call to give you a chance to clarify anything else you might need. You can find our earnings release on our Investor Relations website at meliahhotelsinternational.com. And now, I am pleased to turn the call over to Gabriel.

Thank you, Stefan, and good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. 2023 has been a positive year. A year that went from good to better in almost all regions with a solid underlying demand. Thanks to our premium and luxury positioning with a quality mix of leisure and pleasure destinations, we have been able to capitalize on the strong momentum in all segments. The solid overall trend of the year is confirmed in the fourth quarter. where our year-on-year own and lease rent part increased by 10.6% mainly driven overall by price which is plus 6.3% compared to 2022. Occupancy was 2.5 percentage points above 2022 and our system-wide rent part increased by 6.6% in this case mainly driven by volume increase. On a yearly basis, rent part for our own and lease hotels increased by 17.3% driven by overall equal gains in average daily rate and occupancy. Our system-wide rent part increased by 10%. thanks to volume recovery. It should be known that this red bar increase is affected by pricing decrease in Cuba, which is explained by the valuation of the local currency. Excluding this effect, our system-wide red bar increased by 16%, with both occupancy and average daily rate fostering this increase. In this context, Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl The increase is of 7.3% even though own and lease available rooms are minus 8.7% compared to the same period. This shows the positive contribution of Redbar increase and the retention within our management systems of the hotels changing from own and lease towards management contracts. sales through melia.com direct channel strategy continue to show increases of 17.4% compared to last year accounting to more than 46% of our centralized sales our digital and direct channels remain important drivers to increase demand at a more efficient cost to us and our owners in 2024 We are celebrating our 30 year anniversary of our loyalty platform, Melea Rewards, with more of 16 million of registered customers. Operating expenses increased by 12.6% with respect to the previous year and by 7.5% compared to 2019. Despite wages and OPEX inflation, profit margins at EBDR level are in line with pre-pandemic thanks to the cost control implemented by the company without affecting our service quality while enhancing client satisfaction. Regarding EBDA margins, these are not fully comparable due to the change in the equity portfolio rental agreements. switching from fully fixed amounts to fully variable. We are glad to see that this change in strategy has surpassed bottom line contribution of this portfolio compared to 2019. As we anticipated in our annual shareholder meeting, I am glad to announce that our objective to reach at least 475 million of EBDA has been achieved thanks to the strong demand and margin recovery. Our strong top line combined with cost control measures allow us to post EBDA excluding capital gains of 486 million euros. an increase of 16.2% compared to 2022 and of 3.3% compared to 2019. Net financial result has been impacted by the higher financial interest rate during the year. In 2023, our average financial interest rate stood at 5.16% compared to 3.13% in 2022. Interest rate increase for the year could be softened thanks to our fixed interest rate debt exposure, which at the end of 2023 stands at 35.5%. It is worth noting that the outlook for the upcoming months suggests that rate hikes have reached their peak. is together with that reduction should write financial expenses down from now on effective income tax rate for the year is of 12.9 percent lower than the rates of around 25 percent at which the group has historically stood essentially this reduction is a consequence of the impact of the constitutional code declaring certain precepts of Royal Decree Law 3 2016 void and in particular regarding the reassessment of the application of tax losses against future profits and the corresponding recognition of deferred tax assets. Therefore, consolidated net profit of the parent company reached a positive 117.7 million euros, improving by 7 million euros compared to the previous year and also surpassing 2019 figures. Turning to the balance sheet, with regards to debt, a decrease of 59.9 million euros was registered during the course of the year. ending with 2,613 million euros of net debt. Pre IFRS 16 financial net debt decreased by 46.7 million euros, closing the year with an amount of 1,163 million euros, showing our progress towards debt reduction. Regarding asset rotation, In 2023, progress has been made. We have received advance payment amounting to 30 million U.S. dollars related to the sale of a minority stake in a subsidiary which owns a hotel in Mexico, pending to be approved by Mexican competence authorities. This transaction will generate capital gains in 2024 once the approval from the competent authorities has been issued. I'd like to briefly discuss one of our most recent announcements. On February 19 this year, we announced the signing of an agreement with an investment vehicle from Banco Santander for the subscription of new shares in a subsidiary owned by Melian. By means of this transaction, the investment vehicle takes a participation of 38.2% stake in that subsidiary, which will own three premium hotel assets located in premium locations. This transaction amounts to a total of 300 million euros which will be received during the month of April. This transaction is part of our strategy to continue to strengthen our balance sheet. The value of the transaction is in line with the asset appraisal we published in July 2022 allowing us to crystallize asset valuation. Apart from this, An additional asset rotation operation is currently underway, which we expect to complete during the course of the following months in the Caribbean and another one in the Canary Islands. These transactions will be made through a sale of a minority stake. Regarding our investments, it should be noted that in 2023, The company made key money agreements payments of 31 million euros of ensuring long-term management contracts of various hotels, including the equity in wellness portfolios. At the end of the year, the liquidity situation amounts to 330 million euros. It should be noted that before year-end, we have been able to refine part of our 2024 and 2025 debt commitments in order to smooth debt commitments for the nearest future. We remind that Melilla does not have any debt with financial covenants, while mortgage debts stand at approximately 250 million euros.

This implies a loan to value of 27.4% of mortgage assets.

I would like to reiterate our commitment to continue to strengthen our balance sheet. As of today, I would like to commit to return to our pre-COVID net debt to EBITDA multiples by the end of 2024. That is 2.5 times net debt to EBDI pre-IFRS multiple. With this, we are anticipating one year our objective. I will now turn the call over to André to talk about our operational performance during the fourth quarter and forwards. In more detail, André, please.

Thank you, Gabriel, and good afternoon, everyone. Complimenting previous remarks, after a solid summer season, the fourth quarter continued with the upward trend. We have seen a strong performance in all regions with a year-on-year system-wide red fire increase of 6.7%, driven by a strong domestic and international demand for both our resorts and blessure hotels. Going into regions, European cities have seen a surge in volumes compared to 2022, with occupancy unlocking red-bar increase for the area. This increase is supported by our pricing strategy, which remains strong. In America, our hotels in Dominican Republic stand out with a red-bar increase year-on-year surpassing 10%, purely driven by price increases. It is worth noting that repositioning of Fallisus Palma Real which also allowed us to increase occupied rooms. Our hotels in Spain have delivered a really strong fourth quarter with red bar increases year on year of 20.9%. The positive combination of winter season in both cities and the Canary Islands have been key on achieving a 12.5% increase in prices and 4.7% points in increased occupancy. The Asia region is capitalizing on demand pays increased during the final stages of the year. The continent has been the latest to definitely leave the pandemic restrictions demand and therefore is benefiting from still an unconsumed ramp up demand. As a sign of tangible recovery, red bar in the region is up 31.7% year on year, but still below pre-pandemic levels. This remains a key lever going forwards, not only for the region itself, but as an outbound source of tourists traveling abroad. Lastly, our hotels in Cuba have continued with the trends seen along the year, with a positive evolution of international travelers, but with domestic demand negatively impacted due to the devaluation of the local currency. Turning to our yearly view, overall, the continued trend along the 12 months where all quarters' REF PAR outperformed year-on-year figures on its System 1 perspective. This trend shows the positive evolution of our pricing strategy based on our luxury and premium positioning reflected in our strong product mix, our premium locations, and our brands. Regarding the segments, we are keen to see that there is a positive evolution in all of them. Important to note that Melia.com and the rest of our direct channels continues to solidly deliver results, as previously explained. True operators have also performed well, and we celebrate the continuing positive trend with our most appreciated partners around the world. A special mention should be made to MICE, which has seen a solid performance along the year. Our business generated through MICE in 2023 has exceeded both 2019 and 2022 levels. Our perspective for 2024 is encouraging. As far as development, in 2023, Melia's growth is intricately tied to our brand strategy, featuring significant advancements such as the consolidation of our unique luxury hotels brand, Melia Collection, with eight hotels already in operation and eight more slated to open in the future. The Zelle brand, created in collaboration with Rafa Nadal, managed the view and continues to expand its pipeline for the coming years with three openings in 2024. Additionally, we saw the much anticipated arrival of the resort brand Paradisus by Melia in Europe, with Paradisus Salinas Lanzarote and Paradisus Gran Canaria, both on the Canary Islands. 2024 marks a pivotal year for the Mi brand as well, with planned openings of the hotels Mi Malta, Mi Sayulita and Mi Guadalajara in Mexico and Mi Lisbon in Portugal. Throughout 2023, the company signed agreements for a total of 26 new hotels, adding 4,465 new rooms. and open another 12 hotels. Highlights include the Grand Melia Palazzo Borduccio in Milan, the Selma Yorka Hotel, the Grand Melia Nha Trang in Vietnam, our first Grand Melia in Southeast Asia, and Inside Bangkok in Thailand. The company emphasizes its growing destinations like Mexico while also solidifying its presence in emerging holiday hotspots like Albania and Malta. The group's luxury strategy has a positive impact on the portfolio's evolution, with luxury brands already representing almost 15% of the operating hotels and 35% of expansion pipeline. These brands contributed over 25% of total hotel revenues in 2023, and the luxury brand's portfolio experienced strong red bar increase of plus 18.3% in 2023 and up 31% compared to 2019, with solid growth for 2024 expected. Thanks to this potential, combined with growing market demand and resilience to economic cycles, the luxury and premium strategy has solidified as a competitive strength, contributing to maintaining a more qualitative REF bar. Important to note, a record year in customer satisfaction with a 53% net promoting score system-wide, which validates our vision and brand strategy in terms of personalized service and tailored experiences for our guests. In terms of the outlook, demand is still strong, with both leisure and corporate clients presenting an encouraging outlook. Our all-in-the-book reservations are double digit above last year. with pricing still showing mid single year increases. Reservations are being increasingly anticipated, and even though last minute bookings continue to be relevant, this is a positive factor since we're expecting to also extend the season in our resort hotels. Going into regions, America, Q124, strategy focusing on maintaining a solid occupancy base while driving the average room rate in our superior categories and suites, allowing us to foster last-minute demand, which is predominant along local clientele. International demand into the region is again led by the U.S. and Canadian customers. So far, we're seeing revenue and price increases in the Caribbean region, driving a strong percentage of our REF bar increase for 2024. Regarding mice, our hotels in Dominican Republic are seeing a higher base of events scheduled for the near future. Space forecast for our city hotels are positive after a strong fourth quarter. We are expecting to continue to grow in prices and keep progressing in occupancy. Corporate travelers are also keeping up with the recovery. We expect 2024 corporate business in Spain to regain pre-COVID volumes So far, Q1 is showing this trend. Resort hotels in Q1 is mainly focused on the Canary Islands, showing solid increase and positive last minute demand for superior rooms and suites again. Our hotels have confirmed a strong good base for the beginning of the season. The UK and German markets continue to lead demand into the region, where also Spanish nationals are expecting to grow compared to 2023. region expects a higher volume compared to last year with price increase and recovering occupancy versus last year with corporate segment pushing demand events scheduled in the near future together with mice again will also benefit from our hotels in a region Asia region expects to consolidate and definitely leave behind the pandemic effects the region will benefit from both both from increased internal demand and also international travelers flying into the region. According to recent statistics released from IATA, the International Air Transport Association, international flight seat capacity from and into Asia are still approximately minus 45% below pandemic. Even though forecasts do not expect a full recovery in 2024, there is definitely a shift on perspective which we will try to capitalize. Cuba will continue, as in recent months, the positive outlook for international travels, which should provide a better occupancy base and pick up red bar increases year over year thanks to an increased volume. I will now turn back the call over to Gabriel to summarize the main messages of the call. Thank you, Andre.

To end, I would like to highlight the following messages. We are expecting low double-digit increase in Redfar for this year compared to last year. We have attained the objective set in the General Shareholder Meeting of generating at least 475 million euros in EBITDA for last year. Today, I'd like to state a further commitment for year 2024 to generate at least 500 million euros in EBITDA excluding capital gains. The announcement of an agreement with Banco Santander not only proves the value of our hotels but also the confidence in the hotel industry. With this transaction, I would also like to commit to end 2024 with a net debt EBDA ratio of 2.5 times pre-IFRS. Regarding development, we expect to open not less than 4,500 rooms in 2024. And thanks to the good performance and the work made to strengthen the balance sheet, The Board of Directors will propose to the General Shareholder Meeting to resume the dividend payment. Further details on our fourth quarter and full year can be found in the earnings release we issued early today. We will now be happy to answer any questions you may have. Please, let me remind you that I'm here with Andres Girando, Angelito Rieger, Juan Ignacio Pardo, and Stefan Bausch.

As previously mentioned, those interested in asking questions will have the opportunity to do so now. To do so, please dial star 5 so we can assign you a turn to ask questions. Also, please remember to keep your microphone mute while others are speaking. First question, first person is going to be Joao from Santander. Please go ahead, Joao.

Yes, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. I'll start with two questions. The first, just to bridge the cash flow for 2024 and just taking into account what is your new target of net debt to EBITDA of 2.5 times. I mean, obviously with the transaction the real estate transaction you're doing you'll be very close to those levels already but I wanted to understand what are you going to do on top of that considering that you're also proposing a dividend to basically the my question is more in terms of what is the guidance for CapEx and also what is the the amount that you expect to receive from the other asset rotation. So that would be my first question. And then the second one, just on the transaction you announced, I mean, I have just a couple of questions here. The first is if there is any Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord What I wanted to understand here is the tenure of this lease agreement. For how long is the lease agreement? And that's basically my question.

Thank you. Hi, I'm Henry speaking.

I want to speak with you again. Look, with regard to cash flow for 2024 and our objective to reduce the ratio to 2.5 times, as Gabriel has said, there will be three elements that will contribute to achieve that target. One is obviously the transaction that we've recently signed. Secondly is the generation of cash flow from the business. And third, you know, the asset rotation, which is not going to be particularly significant Big, but we expect additional around 50 million euros coming from that angle this year. So that will take us to this objective. And we are fully committed to this. So concerning the CapEx, what we have decided this year is to be more strict. And for example, in terms of IT investment, what we're going to do is we are doing now like take an inventory, hold a little bit, and then, you know, and therefore be more conservative in terms of that. And we'll be capexing about 100 million euros this year, you know, on all aspects. With regard to the transaction itself, there is a preferred dividend to our partner Santander which is not obviously a guaranteed dividend and it's a preferred which is very very reasonable it's armless and with the business case that we have for this vehicle we expect that we'll always be in a situation to catch up that and so there's no There's not a big deal on that. And in terms of the lease agreement, it was, I would say it's instrumental because sometime there, you know, couldn't cope with having employees on the vehicle, so we decided to do this lease structure, which at the end of the day is eliminated on a consolidation basis. So we are running the hotels and we've set up the structure because it was a requirement from Santander. It made it very easy in terms of duty as well. So that is the optimal structure to make the deal go through the finish line.

Just a follow-up. If I understood correctly, I mean, two follow-ups, actually. The asset rotation you mentioned, 50 million euros, so 5-0. and CapEx is 100 million euros. And the question here is, does it include key money or not?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all. Yeah, all included. It's all the CapEx, y'all.

Okay, clear. And the asset rotation is 50 million, five zero, right?

That's correct.

Yeah. Okay, thanks. I think I will mention... Yes, this transaction that we are now negotiating in Dominican Republic and we're selling a minority stake in a vehicle. We've been negotiating now for months and we expect to close that transaction in Q2. Great, thank you.

Okay. Thank you Joao. Then the following is going to be Jaina. Hi Jaina from Jeffreys. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you very much for taking my questions and congratulations on such a strong end to the year. I've got three questions as well. My first question is on 2024 and your guidance for low double digit road paths. I wondered how this breaks down by region in terms of what you're seeing. My second question is on what you're seeing for Q1 breast pass so far and how it compares versus your full year low double digit guidance. And then lastly, I wanted to ask about your room openings. You're guiding to 4,500 new rooms in 2024. Is this net of terminations or how many terminations should we expect this year?

Thank you.

Hi, this is Andre. Thank you again and thank you for congratulating us. We are very excited. Listen, there are several drivers on the Red Park guidance of the low double digits. The first one would be the Americas region, which is performing very strong and we have Mexico and Dominican Republic with a strong base of business. And secondly, it's our premium and luxury strategy. So the combination of both elements is going to contribute. So that's how I would like to break it. First would be the Americas, second would be Spain, Urban and Leisure, and thirdly would be EMEA. First would be luxury brands, and then would be the premium brands. And of course, the fact that when we include managed hotels, Asia's support will be very relevant.

My follow up on that and so I was interested in your comments around EMEA because EMEA Westpac was broadly flat in Q4 and so what drives an acceleration in 2024 in that region?

a couple of things number one is we have the Olympic Games going into Paris so France is going to have quite a strong 2024 all over secondly we have seen that there's Congress's and corporate business is coming back in Germany and last year was challenging and beginning of you for we saw how that was moving 30 we have a strong base of mice and congresses in general in EMEA so that's what is driving our outlook. Italy is looking strong as well. I don't know if that answers your question, Jane.

It does. It's very helpful.

Great. Now, when it comes to Q1, you will see that we have positive growth. So, yes, definitely Q1 is already contributing to this double-digit low-rep part growth for 2024. We have a strong performance in the Canary Islands. We have a strong performance in Blessure Secondary Cities in Spain. As I said, the Americas, please remember that for all Q1 in the Caribbean, it's very strong. And 30, yes, the 4,500 rooms are net of termination, so this is net increase on system-wide rooms.

Very clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Jaina. Then next is going to be André Julliard from the Spain. André, comment ça va?

Très bien, merci. Good evening and congratulations for these good results. My questions are first about the fears that you could have from the operating environment because You're saying that more or less all your markets are very well oriented. You're guiding on a lot of the budget, but what could negatively impact if we wanted to be a little bit more cautious? First question. Second question is about all the asset management deals you're planning to do or you have already announced. Could you give us slightly more detail about the breakdown between the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the Canary Islands? And I had a specific question about the Santander deal. Do you have any call option or does Santander has a put option on the respective participation, even if I perfectly understood that we were talking about a long-term deal. Last question, if I may, about refinancing. You've got 280 million to refinance this year, if I'm right, and 163 next year. what is the plan for this refinancing are you thinking about traditional bonds credit lines or anything else thank you

Hello André, this is André Gerando. Listen, to your first question, so far, and you know, we're not on wood, but in terms of the pace of the reservations, the on-the-book business, which is not only strong for Q1, but it's also showing a strong pace for summer, at levels of between 15 and 20% already for the summer, so there's an early booking window which is very relevant and that's going to allow us to do a lot of yield management with direct channels in part of the strategy there is nothing as we speak today that we are over cautious about Obviously, there are some geopolitical issues that we do not control, but we have to say that given the unfortunate situation in Gaza or the situation in Ukraine, we have not seen really an impact. I wouldn't say positive impact, but please remember how resilient the distribution of our portfolio is between the Caribbean primary cities and resorts. So there is nothing right now that we can share that we are really cautious. Obviously, we are being sensitive and we're taking it quarter by quarter. As well, the pains that we have for our group and my business is also very strong. Bear in mind that we manage two very large convention centers, one in Palma and another one recently in Barcelona, and that we have strong mice operation in the Caribbean. So, hopefully, there's nothing that is going to make us change our mind, but as of today, it wouldn't be fair from us to say anything specific other than the overall situation.

Juan Ignacio, part of the station now.

As delegated in July's session, real estate teams' priority has been entirely driven by the asset rotation strategy. As we have mentioned already, we keep our focus on partial disposals either directly or through joint ventures or introducing partners to assets for the upcoming period. The company, as the chairman has mentioned, has all their rotation operations planned and they are being worked both in Spain and in the Caribbean. and we hope that we can communicate and be able to communicate the results in the forthcoming months. André, bonjour. Angèle speaking. Concerning your first question on the Santander deal, I think the most significant part of it is that Santander has no put on us whatsoever. And then, obviously, we are retaining majority control on this vehicle. and that will give us, you know, a lot of optionalities when, you know, if an exit comes. But, you know, the most significant part of it is that there's no put option on Santander against Melia. And then concerning the maturity profile, yeah, we have 280 million euros maturing this year. We already signed a reorganization with Santander on December last year. And so we moved 50 million from 2024 and 50 million from 2025 to 2026. Now in Q1, there will be maturities for 60 million euros. We have, you know, cash enough to pay. And we are already speaking with all our lenders and we are expecting to close a reorganization of our maturities along with a reduction in April, May at latest. So we are in constant dialogue with our lender and our objective would be to end up with a profile of around 150 million euros of maturities each year.

Okay, Andres, you okay?

Perfectly clear. Thank you very much.

Merci a toi. Now, please go ahead, Inigo, and you will get that from Tefler. Hola, Inigo.

Hola, Estefan. Hello, Gabriel, and the rest of the team. Thanks for taking my two questions.

The first one is a quick follow-up on the...

Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord But you are, which is, I don't know if it's optimistic, but at least it's a strong report expected for 2024. But on EBITDA, you are only assuming 3% growth over 2023 EBITDA. Why is that impact that is smaller at EBITDA level?

Thank you.

Hi, Niko. Yeah, you're right, basically. I mean, free cash flow of the company is going to be hopefully higher than 100 million euros this year. So that is the third element of, you know, the ammunition that we're going to have to raise with it. I think basically that was your question, right?

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, and I will talk about the guidance and response that Gabriel gave and also the EBITDA. It's true that you need to remember that we have in 2024, we are not going to have for the full year the equity in muebles as a lease. And remember, only when you compare with the figures that we had in 2023, At the revenue levels, we're talking about 75 million euros that we had in 2023 and we are not going to have in 2024. And also, I would like to include also that the EBITDA generated by these hotels along these eight months that we had on this was around 10 million euros. This is something that we have a one-off in 2023 and we are not going to have in 2024. Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord Hotels Intl Ord

additional asset rotation will come from the sale of two minority stakes. You mentioned one in Dominican Republic and another one in the Canary Islands. Is this right?

Yes, absolutely. Yes, you're right.

Okay, thank you. Gracias.

Now, please, Fernando, from Alhambra, please go ahead. Fernando, what's up?

Hi, thank you. Sorry, but most of them have already been answered. Just a follow-up on CapEx, because you've mentioned that you expect to generate around 100 free cash flow generation this year. Just I was wondering the breakdown in CapEx for 2024 between key money, maintenance CapEx, development CapEx, and investments in your JVs, if possible, please.

Thank you.

Yeah, it's around 50, 50, 60, 40. Fernando, sorry. We can be more precise if you want. We can send you a note. But it's going to be, yeah, 50, 60 million in maintenance and the other one in key money, basically, yeah. It's okay, Fernando.

Yes, I thought that maintenance cap normally was higher than around $50 million a year.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It used to be, and this year what we've decided is, as I explained before, also with the IT. Look, we've heavily cut our properties within the last year and so we don't think we're jeopardizing the status we're going to be very strict we're going to do an inventory of the real needs and we're going to break a little bit this year and then take it from there next year okay okay thank you then okay

Then thank you. I think that's all for today. That concludes our question and answer session. We hope that we have been helpful here. Please do not hesitate to contact