NH expects second-quarter revenue to increase by more than €100 million compared to 2019

Madrid, 29^th June 2023 – NH Hotel Group will increase second-quarter revenue by more than €100 million compared to the same quarter of 2019, executive vice-chairman and CEO Ramón Aragonés said at today’s Annual General Meeting in Madrid. In addition, EBITDA is set to grow between April and June 2023, driven by strong performance in key markets across both leisure and corporate segments.

In his speech, Aragonés also announced that average occupancy across NH’s hotels has continued to improve month after month this quarter and it is now close to 2019 levels. The average daily rate, which was €145 in April, has continued to improve in May and June. According to the executive vice-chairman, the company’s healthy earnings performance also enabled a reduction in net financial debt from €308 million at year-end 2022 to €274 million by 31 May 2023.

Elsewhere, the Appointments, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee has nominated Míriam González-Amezqueta, Tomás López Fernebrand and María Segimón de Manzanos as new independent directors. The Board of Directors meeting, scheduled for this afternoon, is expected to approve the three appointments via co-option. The Board will also approve the re-election of Ramón Aragonés as executive director, after he was re-elected chief executive officer of the company for the bylaw-stipulated three-year term at this morning’s AGM.

NH Hotel Group’s shareholders ratified all agenda items, including the company’s financial statements, management and non-financial reports, the appropriation of its profit for 2022 to the company’s legal reserve and the director remuneration policy for 2024 – 2026.

Aragonés also outlined the hotel company’s growth strategy, specifically the plan to open 1,900 rooms between 2023 and 2026, concentrated in the upper segments, under a mix of management contracts (89% of the total) and variable lease agreements (the remaining 11%).  The company will increase its presence in key markets: 30% of the new rooms will open in Portugal, 15% in Spain, 14% in Italy and the remaining 41% in Latin America.

CEO Aragonés looked back at the company’s earnings performance in 2022, ratified at the AGM, highlighting the fact that it was the first year of profitability since 2019, fuelled by revenue of €1.76 billion, a growth of €925 million from 2021 and of €41 million compared to 2019.  Recurring EBITDA last year amounted to €250 million, equivalent to 85% of the 2019 figure, due to the adverse impact of the Omicron variant in 1Q22.

Aragonés said he was very satisfied with NH’s “excellent performance” since the second quarter of 2022 in terms of both volume and price, surpassing 2019 metrics. He also underlined the company’s pursuit of “strict cost control” in order to mitigate the impact of inflation during the recovery phase and highlighted how strong cash generation drove a sharp reduction in net debt last year of €260 million to end the year at €308 million.

At the end of his speech, the executive vice-chairman addressed the shareholders, assuring them of his firm commitment to corporate governance. Aragonés stated that “the activities of the NH Hotel Group Board of Directors have always been subject to the highest standards of governance, as evidenced by the leading independent international indicators for years”.

About NH Hotel Group

NH Hotel Group, part of Minor Hotels, is an established multinational hotel operator and a benchmark urban hotel chain in Europe, Americas and Asia, where it runs over 350 hotels. Since 2019, it has been working with Minor Hotels on integrating all of its hotel trademarks under a single corporate umbrella brand with a presence in over 50 countries worldwide. Together they have established a portfolio of more than 530 hotels operating under eight brands – Anantara, Avani, Elewana, Oaks, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow and Tivoli – which between them provide a broad and diverse spectrum of hotel solutions in touch with the needs and desires of today’s global travellers.