Playasol Hotels Forecast Sales Growth Of 13% In 2017

24 April 2017 – Expansión

Three years after it rose from the ashes and was taken over by the venture capital fund Hiperion, Playasol Ibiza Hotels – whose portfolio contains more than 4,000 rooms – is planning to complete the refurbishment of its hotel stock and is preparing to make acquisitions and expand its business.

The CEO of Playasol Ibiza Hotels, Antonio Domenech, explained that, after the judicial and liquidation administration process, Hiperion took over the operation and management of Grupo Playasol, whilst the real estate company Sunparty Real Estate took control of the assets. From that point on, the shareholders implemented a business plan, which has just seen the completion of its third year.

“Although the fund’s initial intention was to create value and sell, at the moment, its vocation is more industrial. We are not considering a fast-selling scenario”, said Domenech, in an interview with Expansión.

The director explains that, in the framework of this commitment by the shareholders, Playasol is analysing opportunities for growth, both in the Canary Islands, as well as on the peninsula. “We are analysing operations in nuclei where there is a critical mass and in the holiday segment”. In this way, Playasol is evaluating opportunities in mature destinations in the Canary Islands, Costa del Sol and Levante. “We are focusing on the Spanish Coast and the islands”, he said.

Forecasts

Playasol, which closed last year with revenues of €69 million, up by 24.7% compared to the previous year, expects to increase its sales by 13% this year. The hotel chain employs an annual average workforce of more than 600, peaking at 1,200 workers in the high season.

“These results not only fuel the group’s growth prospects, they also endorse the current strategy based on the search for greater efficiency, reinvestment in assets and financial discipline”.

Domenech highlighted Playasol’s current “solvency”. “We have scrupulously fulfilled all of the objectives agreed with the unions, we have even created jobs and our relationship with the local administrations is excellent. We have very much been part of the solution to the problem”.

Hotel refurbishment

Domenech said that the company has invested more than €12 million renovating its establishments and that it plans to allocate between €16 million and €25 million to improve its other assets between now and 2018, “depending on what we managed to agree with the local administrations in terms of procedures and licences”. “This year we are refurbishing fourteen establishments, including the complete renovation of four. The hotels in our portfolio are in excellent locations, but the properties were built in the 1960s and 1970s and so they need intensive investment”. (…).

The group has 37 hotels and apartments in total (36 in Ibiza and one in Mallorca) plus four others that are not currently operational. “The aim is for them to be operational for the 2019 season”. (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake