Meliá Hotels International held its General Shareholders' Meeting today, chaired by Gabriel Escarrer Juliá. Both the founder and Non-Executive Chairman of the Company and its Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume, reviewed the positive 2018 results with shareholders, a record year for Net Profit and EBITDA, the achievements within the 2015-2018 Strategic Plan, and the outlook for 2019 and strategy for the future.
Summary 2015-2018
The Meliá CEO described the main advances made in each of the six areas that formed the backbone of Group strategy over the past three years:
.- Leadership in the resort and urban leisure hotel segments, for which he highlighted the more than 9,500 rooms added to the portfolio, 80% in resort or urban "bleisure" hotels (business + leisure), and the €1,100 million invested in renovating and repositioning hotels.
.- Strengthening of corporate governance, highlighting progress made in the composition of the Board (54.5% of Independent Directors), internal policies and regulations, and AENOR certification for its criminal compliance system, becoming the first company in the industry to achieve certification. The addition of a new female Director raises the proportion of women on the Board to 27%, and the Company stated its commitment to raise this figure to 36% over the next two years.
.- Progress towards becoming a more responsible and sustainable company, an area in which Escarrer highlighted the commitment to the UN 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals and its inclusion in the Silver Class category in the 2019 Sustainability Yearbook prepared by the Sustainable Investment Agency RobecoSAM, in which Meliá is named as the third most sustainable hotel company in the world. Escarrer also emphasised how the Group's environmental strategy (which achieved the highest rating in the RobecoSAM assessment for the Dow Jones Sustainability Index) has already completely eliminated single-use plastics in 68% of the hotel portfolio and generated savings of 18.4% in CO2 emissions per stay. 54% of the electrical energy that Company hotels consume worldwide now comes from renewable sources.
.- People and talent management, in which the Company achieved important progress in talent management, digital training, and equality and diversity, with 33% of managerial positions occupied by women, a figure which rises to 50% when considering the talent pool for future hotel managers.
.- Regarding digital transformation, after investing €130 million in the three years, Meliá reports significant progress, supported by a 68% increase in online sales over the period and a 1,400% increase in sales through mobile devices.
.- Regarding the creation of value for shareholders, the Vice President of Meliá highlighted its leadership in RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) growth in the industry for 34 consecutive quarters up to the end of 2018, with a 16% increase between 2015 and 2018. He also emphasised the 20% increase in asset value to €4,401 million and the increase of 250% in Earnings per Share over the same period.
Three-way transformation
In its 2030 vision, Meliá objectives include strengthening its leadership in the resort and urban leisure segments, completing its digital transformation and consolidating its position as a leading employer and responsible company. During his speech, Escarrer framed these objectives within what he called the "three-way transformation" of the Group up to 2022:
.- Cultural transformation, where Meliá's commitment to talent through an employer brand policy, support for the training and employability of young people and digital skills and training will be decisive factors in company competitiveness within the context of a generational tsunami and revolution in labour relations.
.- Digital transformation, on the tail of its success in online sales and marketing, the Company now aims to use technology and data to personalise and enhance the customer experience and satisfaction, increase productivity and profitability, and improve the work experience for employees by automating functions that add little value while focusing attention on delivering better service and personalised experiences.
.- The transformation into a responsible and sustainable company is based on Meliá's current public commitments to extend the 360 Agenda to all areas with a special focus on assessing its environmental strategy, promoting employability and job creation, and the management of diversity and inclusion.
Outlook for 2019
Escarrer stressed that the Spanish tourism industry has entered "a somewhat more moderate growth cycle" which he referred to as "a new stage of more normal growth" in the industry following the artificial boost to demand in Spain over the last 4 or 5 years. Escarrer, who is currently Chairman of the Exceltur Alliance, highlighted the opportunities in this context for companies such as Meliá that have diversified and repositioned their products and focused on digital development, while also recalling the need for transformation in the competitiveness of the Spanish tourism industry.
On a global level, Escarrer highlighted the persistence of certain sources of uncertainty and challenges in both America and Europe, although he believes that most of the subsequent consequences have already been overcome and expects recent openings to drive an improvement in results in areas such as Punta Cana, Cuba and Mexico.
After thanking shareholders for their trust and support, Gabriel Escarrer also announced the decision to hold the pay-out ratio steady at 30%, implying the payment of a Dividend per Share of €0.1830 (+ 8.86% ).
The General Shareholders' Meeting was held with the required quorum and approved all of the proposals included in the Agenda.
