December the 20th, 2021 - The Dalmatian Sunce hotels brand are planning to invest an enormous amount of money in the general ''do up'' of their many facilities in the hope of 2022 being the year in which tourism and travel return to pre-pandemic norms.
As Jozo Vrdoljak/Novac/Jutarnji list writes, Sunce hotels informed the Zagreb Stock Exchange that their supervisory board has approved investments for further raising the quality and services in the company's facilities for the year 2022 in the large amount of 44.2 million euros.
The largest amount, as much as 13.6 million euros, is planned to be invested in the Elaphusa Hotel in Bol on Brac, followed by the Soline Hotel in Brela, for which 9.7 million euros has been set aside. The third largest investment is in the Borak hotel in Bol of 7.9 million euros, and 6.7 million euros will be invested in the Maestral hotel in Brela. About 2.5 million euros will be invested in the Kastelet hotel, and 150,000 euros in Neptune. 2.9 million euros will be invested in employee accommodation, and around 800,000 euros will be pumped into other accompanying investments.
They explained from Sunce hotels that these investments confirm the intentions of their majority shareholders to develop the company's future business by strengthening their market position by implementing new and developing existing capacities and services, as well as continuing to invest in raising the quality of accommodation for their employees.
Out of a total investment of 44 million euros, approximately 29 million is planned to be raised through a capital increase by issuing new shares, for which purpose an extraordinary general meeting of the joint stock company was convened. As for the rest of the funds, Sunce hotels plans to raise the cash by borrowing from commercial banks, using the possibility of withdrawing funds for this purpose as agreed when refinancing the financial obligations of the company back on November the 2nd, 2021.
Hrvoje Veselko, a member of the board of Sunce hotels, explained that all of these investments will be mainly focused on refreshing the company's existing accommodation units, ie in what leaves a real impression on the guests.
''These aren't investments in additional capacities, ie investments that require the obtaining of any permits. It's all mainly in relation to furnishing rooms with new furniture, refreshing our hotel rooms, reconstructing the bathrooms, decorating and refreshing the common and public spaces, horticultural planning and similar investments. We took the least invasive path because it's important for us to complete most of these investments by the beginning of the summer season next year, ie on May the 15th, 2022,'' explained Hrvoje Veselko.
Under the Bluesun Hotels & Resorts brand, Sunce hotels manages 11 hotels along the Croatian Adriatic coast, one campsite and one leased facility, or a total of 2,973 accommodation units, making them one of the largest hotel companies in all of the Republic of Croatia. They also own 50.2 percent of Brac Airport. In addition to tourist facilities in Tucepi, Brela, Starigrad Paklenica and Bol on the island of Brac, they're in a joint venture with the tour operator TUI AG and have a premium hotel, TUI Blue Jadran, with 161 accommodation units to boast of.
Since March this year, the majority owner of Sunce hotels has become the company Eagle Hills Real Estate, which took over the stake from the family of Jako Andabak for about 101 million euros. Eagle Hills Real Estate is engaged in real estate investing and real estate development with a focus on the markets of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is headed by Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, who currently manages development in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Serbia and some other destinations. These are mixed-use facilities worth 50 billion euros. The company intended to build Zagreb's so-called ''Manhattan'', and is also known for the Belgrade on Water project, which it did develop.
In the first nine months of 2021, Sunce hotels generated an impressive 333.8 million kuna in operating revenues, which is an increase of 107.1 compared to the same period in 2020, which was dominated by the global coronavirus pandemic, The Group achieved a positive EBITDA of 116,405 million kuna, which is a better result than 102,650 million kuna, the amount recorded back during the same period last year. The main reason for the strong growth of EBITDA is the growth of operating revenues from the sale of accommodation services and non-board revenues.
The largest part of operating expenses for Sunce hotels are staff costs in the amount of 98.5 million kuna, which has been 23.5 million kuna more in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period last year, and material costs amount to 85 million kuna and are higher by 58.7 percent when compared to the same period in 2020, mostly due to higher activities and operating income generated from the sale of accommodation services.
Financial expenses for Sunce hotels have veen significantly lower for the first nine months of 2021, mainly because there were no net negative exchange rate differences. Total financial expenses amount to 9.7 million kuna, which is a decrease of 8196 million kuna when compared to the first nine months of 2020, when total financial expenses amounted to 17.9 million kuna. Net profits in the observed period amounted to 68.8 million kuna, and in the same period last year the loss amounted to 45.6 million kuna, again because of the pandemic crisis.
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