Concentradora Fibra Hotelera Mexicana SA de CV

BMV:FIHO12

Earnings Call Analysis

FibraHotel Faces High Costs Amidst Market Challenges

In Q2 2024, FibraHotel confronted a difficult market in Mexico, with pressures from labor costs and a stronger peso impacting profitability. Total revenue grew 3% year-over-year to MXN 1.364 billion, but EBITDA fell to MXN 331 million, causing a margin decline to 24.3%. Although RevPAR increased 6% and ADR rose by 7.4%, occupancy dipped slightly. The company aims to reverse these trends through operational efficiencies and strategic focus on ADR growth. A quarterly distribution of MXN 0.1375 per certificate was announced, and they closed the sale of a Guadalajara hotel for MXN 135 million.

Quarterly Overview: Challenges and Resilience

In the second quarter of 2024, FibraHotel faced a challenging landscape within the Mexican hotel industry, characterized by subdued economic activity and rising operational costs, primarily in labor. The company reported a modest revenue increase of 3% to MXN 1.364 billion, largely driven by a 6% year-over-year growth in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) to MXN 964. Despite this growth, the EBITDA was MXN 331 million, reflecting a decline in margin from 28.2% to 24.3% due to inflated labor costs which have been compounded by a significant increase in Mexico's minimum wage.

Operational Insights: Occupancy and ADR Performance

FibraHotel maintained an occupancy rate of 62% across its managed hotels, slightly down from 63% in the previous year. The average daily rate (ADR) increased by 7.4% year-over-year, indicating strong pricing power in selected segments. The company emphasized maximizing ADR rather than occupancy rates to enhance profitability. The performance varied by region; for example, Mexico City saw a solid RevPAR growth of 12.9%, while markets like Cancun faced challenges, including a notable 15% drop in passenger arrivals at Cancun Airport.

Cost Management and Margin Recovery Strategies

FibraHotel is actively pursuing strategies to enhance operational efficiency and reverse the recent margin compression trends. Management acknowledged ongoing cost pressures associated with labor, with expectations set for persistent increases in real estate expenses due to escalating insurance and other compliance costs. However, they anticipate a gradual recovery in margins with initiatives aimed at reducing costs and increasing ADR above inflation, with a particular focus on the second half of the fiscal year.

Strategic Initiatives and Future Growth Prospects

The company is committed to an ESG-focused strategy, making investments in sustainable energy solutions such as solar power to offset rising operational costs. For inorganic growth, FibraHotel recently disposed of a non-strategic asset, the Gamma hotel in Guadalajara, for MXN 135 million, reflecting effective capital allocation. Ongoing projects include a luxury resort in collaboration with a joint venture partner, with invested capital to date totaling MXN 274 million, signaling confidence in long-term growth.

Future Guidance: Focus on Stability and Growth

Looking ahead, FibraHotel anticipates relatively stable market conditions for the third quarter and a robust booking pace for Q4 and winter 2025. Importantly, the company plans to distribute MXN 0.1375 per CBFI for the second quarter of 2024, leading to an anticipated total annual distribution of MXN 0.55 per certificate—a 10% increase over the previous year. While management recognizes the challenges, they remain optimistic about achieving long-term profitability improvements through their strategic initiatives.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning. My name is Antonio Cardenas, and I will be the conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to FibraHotel's 2024 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. FibraHotel issued its quarterly report on Wednesday. If you did not receive a copy via e-mail, you can find it at www.fibrahotel.com or e-mail me at [e-mail].

Before we begin the call today, I would like to remind you that forward-looking statements made during today's conference call do not account for future economic circumstances, industry conditions company performance and financial results. Unless noted, all figures included herein were prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards and are stated in nominal Mexican pesos. Joining us from FibraHotel are Mr. Simón Zaga, CEO; Mr. Eduardo López, General Manager; Mr. Edouard Boudrant, CFO; and Mr. Guillermo Bravo, CIO.

With that, I will turn the call over to Simón Galante.

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

Thank you, Antonio, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to begin today's call by providing an overview of the second quarter of 2024 results, and we'll then turn the call over to Edouard Boudrant, our CFO, who will discuss our financial results in more detail and then we'll open the call for questions and answers.

In the second quarter of 2024, we faced a challenging market condition to due to soft economic activity and investments, leading to a slower hotel demand. We also continue to face operating cost pressures primarily in labor, which impacted FibraHotel margins and profitability. We are actively working on operating efficiency activities to reverse this trend in the short and medium term. The portfolio had RevPAR growth of 6% year-over-year with an ADR increase of 7.4% and an occupancy decrease of 84 basis points. A positive highlight of the quarter is the growth in ADR above inflation. We will continue to focus on our strategy centered on ADR growth. In the Business Hotels segment, limited service hotels had a solid performance with a RevPAR growth of 12.3% compared with a 6.8% RevPAR growth in select service hotels and a 1.6% RevPAR growth in food service hotels.

Regionally, we observed a normalization in demand in cities like Tijuana, Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexicali, which were coming off of historically high occupancy rates. These cities have healthy operating figures but faced a high comparison basis. Mexico City continues to outperform other markets with RevPAR growth of 12.9%. In Cancun, market conditions have also challenged this quarter. On one hand, there were less flight arrivals as [indiscernible] reported a 15% decrease passengers at Cancun Airport in the quarter from 3 million passengers arrivals in Q2 2023 to 2.5 million in Q2 2023.

Additionally, there was a calendar effect that the Easter holiday was in Q1 this year versus Q2 last year. Finally, the news around Hurricane Meril affected demand in late June. Fortunately, the hurricane did not cause significant damage to the hotel or to Cancun. The Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun had a RevPAR decrease in dollars of 13.2%, mainly from significantly lower occupancy. ADR in dollars remained flat compared to 2023. Lease revenue was impacted by a decrease in revenue by the pesos range, about MXN 69 million revenue in Q2 2024 was 22.6% less than Q2 2023.

Going forward, we expect these market conditions to continue throughout the third quarter of the year. At this point, the forward booking at the booking pace for Q4 and the winter 2025 look stronger with a line with our expectations. Revenues for the quarter were MXN 1.364 billion and EBITDA was MXN 331 million. EBITDA margin was 24.3%, we continue to experience margin compression for cost pressures in operating expense mainly labor. We also paid the yearly PTU cost, which will only happen in this quarter.

We are displeased with the margin compression we have seen in the past few quarters. We are fully focused on overturning this trend and on improving profitability, we are working on different strategies to evolve the business model in the face of these new market conditions to be more efficient. The changes we are implementing together with our operating partners will take time and investment, but we are fully committed and believe we will see the results in the medium and long term.

We are pleased to announce that in April, we closed the sale of the 195-room gamma hotel, Guadalajara for MXN 135 million. The hotel had a book value of MXN 93 million as of March 31, 2024. We will continue to seek opportunities to sell nonstrategic hotels as the right buyers and opportunities arise. On the inorganic growth front, we are making solid progress in the preconstruction phase of the luxury resort and development in a joint venture with Fibra [indiscernible].

To date, we have invested MXN 274 million in this venture and expect to provide further details as we advance with the development. The core strategic objective of FibraHotel is a strong balance sheet. We ended the quarter with a net debt position of MXN 3.666 billion and an LTV of only 24.6%. Regarding our ESG objectives during the quarter, we published FibraHotel integrated annual report, the 2023 greenhouse gas emission report and the report on climate change scenarios, an impact for the company. We also added a sustainability component to the line of credit with the Scotiabank and with this change, 11% of our FibraHotel debt has a sustainability component.

For the second quarter of 2024, FibraHotel will make a distribution of MXN [ 0.1375 ] per CBFI. I would like to end my remarks by highlighting that we are working under difficult and changing market conditions to improve these results, offset cost increase, headwinds and reserve the trend in margins. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I would like to thank all our partners and the team members of their work and commitment to FibraHotel. With that, I will now pass the call over to Edouard Boudrant, the CFO of FibraHotel to discuss the financial and operating results of the second quarter. Thank you.

[Edouard Boudrant, executive]

Thank you, Simón, and good morning, everyone. During the second quarter of 2024, we faced a tough environment for the hotel business in Mexico, pressure on operating costs, mainly labor costs and the appreciation of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar during April and May. This factor weighted on the profitability and cash flow generation of the quarter. We closed the second quarter with 85 hotels opened. The occupancy rate of managed hotels for the quarter was 62% compared to 63% for the second quarter of last year. Average delay rate was MXN 1,552, increasing 7% compared to second quarter of last year.

Quarterly RevPAR was MXN 964 representing a 6% increase compared to the second quarter of last year. The Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun had an occupancy rate of 73% compared to 85% 1 year ago. The hotel a net package ADR of MXN 5,797 and the net package RevPAR was MXN 4,220, decreasing 14% compared to the second quarter of last year.

In U.S. dollar, as the rate is sold in dollars, ADR decreased by 1% from $324 to $322 and RevPAR decreased 13% from $273 to $237 compared to the second quarter of last year. Total revenues for the quarter were MXN 1,364 million compared to MXN 1,323 million for the second quarter of last year, a 3% increase. The total rent collected by the Hotel Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun represented MXN 69 million, which is 5% of our total revenues, decreasing 23%.

During the second quarter of last year, the total rent collected was MXN 89 million and represented 7% of the total revenues. Logic contribution for the quarter was MXN 451 million compared to MXN 476 million for the second quarter of last year, a 5% decrease. The margin of [indiscernible] contribution for the managed hotels was 28%, decreasing compared to a 30.2% margin for the second quarter of last year. Real estate -- real estate expenses were MXN 24 million compared to MXN 22 million for the second quarter of last year. Corporate expenses were MXN 97 million compared to MXN 81 million during the second quarter of last year, mainly impacted by the MXN 10 million one-off expenses related to profit sharing for the employees at hotel level.

Our EBITDA for the quarter was MXN 331 million compared to MXN 373 million for the second quarter of last year. In terms of EBITDA margin, it decreased from 28.2% to 24.3%. We closed the quarter with net debt of MXN 3.6 billion, decreasing MXN 166 million versus the end of last year. Gross debt amounted to MXN 4.4 billion on the LTV ratio is still very conservative at 25%. In May, we drew down MXN 150 million debt, repaying the MXN 130 million revolving facility we drew down in March. As of today, our debt structure is extremely healthy. Only 7% is maturing during the next 12 months. Average cost of debt is 9.7%. U.S.-denominated debt represents 17% of FibraHotel total debt of $41 million.

During the quarter, the debt position generated a financing cost of MXN 107 million. The net financial income was negative MXN 157 million, considering a MXN 60 million foreign exchange loss, noncash item related to the U.S. dollar denominated debt. We closed the quarter with a MXN 744 million cash position compared with MXN 680 million at the end of last year. Please note that in April, we sold the Gamma Guadalajara hotel for MXN 135 million and we used the proceeds to prepay MXN 150 million of our more expensive credit line that was at TIA plus 250 basis points.

During the first quarter, we deployed MXN 130 million of investment, maintenance CapEx and repositioning CapEx. MXN 63 million in joint venture of which MXN 55 million for the luxury hotel project located in the Yucatan Peninsula, MXN 43 million for maintenance CapEx, MXN 7 million on improvement in the Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun, MXN 6 million in remodeling and restoration of the one hotel [indiscernible] and MXN 10 million in other hotels of the portfolio. For the quarter, our FFO and our AFFO were positive MXN 260 million and MXN 166 million.

Please note that in accordance with the distribution policy decided by our Technical Committee in April, we will pay for the second quarter of 2024 and for each quarter of the year, a distribution of [ MXN 0.1375 ]per certificate. Total distribution per certificate for the year will be MXN 0.55 per certificate, increasing 10% versus 2022.

At this point, I would like to open the floor for the Q&A session. Antonio, we are ready to take any questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from Edson Moria from Zuma Capital. "In the press release, mentioned cost pressures, primarily in labor, would you give us more details about it, please?" Second question from Edson Moria, "regarding the joint venture with Danos, what is the timeline to open the new property? Have you decided the hotel brand yet?"

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

I can start with the second part of the question, and I will let Edouard get back to the first. Regarding the new hotel, as we mentioned, we continue advancing very well in the preconstruction phase of the project. We already have a brand identified, and we already have an agreement with the brand. We will announce it in due time. We believe in the fourth quarter, we will announce the brand, but we are advancing well, we also have a tentative open days, but we prepare to give the full details once the time is right, and we expect [indiscernible] that in the following quarters. But as we said, we're advancing well, and we're on progress as expected on that development.

[Edouard Boudrant, executive]

Basically, yes, in terms of operating costs, you all know that the staff cost is the more important cost that we have in the hotels. You also know that during the recent years, there was a strong initiative in order to improve salaries condition in all Mexico, so basically, it has been the high increase in the minimum salary that increased by more than 200% during this administration.

And we feel that it will still increase. For example, the new administration gave some indication that it will not increase below 11% per year, so basically, it's a huge impact for intensive staff business like hotels, and so we are facing other terms and conditions in the hospitality. And if you speak with all the players that are in the hospitality, I think that the speech will be the same.

We have a high rotation rate in the hotel because, for example, if you go to the [indiscernible], there are a lot of new hotels that are opening. There is like a shortage in terms of labor offer. So basically, there is competition to have the best staff possible in the hotels, and we suffered some loss of staff and it's implied both cost in terms of recruiting, in terms of a capacitation, so we see this trend in the north part of the country. in the border to the U.S., in Monterrey region. And it implies that we are not able to have all the staff position field we have some vacancy. And when we have some vacancy, we have to pay extra errors to the employees, so basically, it ends in a strong inflation of the labor cost that, unfortunately, it's higher than the increase of the rates, and it makes a big pressure on the operating margin.

So what we are doing as of today, it's in the strategic plans and ideas that we have with all of the operators, the human resources is one of the most important item in order to be more efficient in order to have better conditions for the employees in order to be able to recruit the best employees in order to reduce the vacancy and then the rotation at the hotel.

But it's something that we will take some time. It's not a matter of a few months. It will be for a few quarters. So -- but we are deeply importing that with the operators.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. If I may have a follow-up on the JV with Anos. Could you remind us the total cost of the new property.

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

We haven't announced it yet, Edson. It's part of the same process we've announced for what we expected to be investing in this year, but we haven't announced the full cost. We prefer to do the full disclosure once we have everything settled. And we expect that to be later this year.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Natalie [indiscernible] from JPMorgan.

[Unknown Analyst]

So I'm just wondering a redone occupancy. So you mentioned that there is some occupancy losses due to a normalization in a few markets. Should we expect these small losses to continue for the rest of the year, year-over-year, of course? Or should we expect them to be as usual? And also on tariffs, I just wanted to know if you're still targeting ADI increases above inflation for the rest of the year.

[Edouard Boudrant, executive]

So basically, regarding the occupancy rate, we feel that we -- versus the second quarter will improve in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter. As you know, the fourth quarter is always the strongest quarter of the year with strong October and strong November. We feel that maybe we should be a little bit lower in occupancy than the third quarter of last year and fourth quarter of last year. And the strategy, the focus for us is to maximize the ADR, we prefer to increase the RevPAR, maximizing the rates versus maximizing the occupancy because it's most cost efficiency. And yes, the target is to increase the rates above inflation.

[Unknown Analyst]

Perfect. And if I may also, on the pressures you were mentioning on cost and SG&A. I understand that the pressure will remain for a few quarters. But should we see a slightly lower number or well, less of a larger increase in the next quarter because you won't pay the profit sharing to employees?

[Edouard Boudrant, executive]

That's correct. That's correct. So the profit sharing was a [ one off ] item on this month. But also, I think maybe for next year and following year, we should be -- we should see some pressure in terms of real estate expenses.

So as you know, insurance will increase and will increase a lot because we will see that the disaster appears more frequently now than in the past few years. And also maybe we can anticipate that, for example, the [indiscernible] in Mexico can increase because we know that the new government will need to fund the program that they have, so we feel also that apart from the operating pressure, we can have some pressure in real estate expenses.

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

Natalia, sorry to interrupt. But just to add on that, a couple of things is, I wanted to make clear the PTU payment, which you mentioned, which is MXN 10 million. For a comparison basis in the years past, as you know, we have the employees at the outside with service companies, and so that expense was in the lodging contribution above the line. And so if you see that additional expense in administrative expenses, which is increased, it's not comparable to last year because it's just in a different place. And as you said, it is this quarter. And so the other thing that has a relevant impact on margins, which we will also hopefully improve, especially for sure in the last quarter is the impact of the rent from Condesa Cancun. So those 2 things should normalize a little bit in the next 2 quarters. But whatever mentioned in terms of the the other costs is completely on target.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Francisco Chávez, BBVA.

[Francisco Chávez Martínez, analyst]

Two questions. The first one is when can we expect the first benefits from the margin recovery initiatives that you are implementing? And the second question is on the AVR, do you see favorable conditions in the industry to continue increasing above inflation.

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

I think let me try to get the market question because what we're doing is something more strategic and it's not just logging a gap of margins. So what we're trying to do right now, what we expect is, we really want to get a margin inflection point. So we want the margin to go up, and that's what we're totally focused on, but the reality is that the initiatives we're taking are not short-term initiatives, but medium and long-term initiatives.

So it's not something that I expect for it to happen in the next few months, something where we will see the benefit more towards next year. But we are taking some initiatives where what we want is to find this inflection point. And then with the support of raising ADR, which I will let Edouard answer it's been positive, the growth in ADR. And if we continue that way, hopefully, we'll be having a positive operational leverage which we haven't had until this point.

[Edouard Boudrant, executive]

And that's correct. Basically, in terms of ADR, the main target and the main objective is to maximize the increase, to increase above inflation, maybe to circle a little bit of occupancy, but ADR is the main target. We see that in Mexico, in the business -- in the business segment, there is a positive trend in ADR, so we want to fulfill that trend because at the end of the day, if we start to lower the rates. After that, it will be very complicated to increase it. What we've seen in the next -- in the few past years, it's the professionalization of the industry. And we saw that clearly in the pandemic, we didn't saw a price war in terms of ADR that we saw in 2007 or 2008 in the past crisis.

So basically, there is a strong discipline in the industry to maintain the rate to increase the rate above inflation. And after that, the occupancy will reconstruct a little by little.

[Unknown Executive]

And just to add Paco, one thing that for us is very important in the middle and long term. We are doing a lot of ESG initiatives. We are investing money in batteries and solar power in some of the hotels to lower cost. Inflation is going very fast, and we are trying to -- as my colleagues just explained, we're trying to find this inflection point on the expenses as well.

But we believe that this long-term ESG initiatives that we're doing with all this will benefit us in the years to come. So we are going to do the hard work and it's going to take some time. We were very effective during the pandemic on the cost control, and we are going to be effective in this time, but inflation is obviously not helping. So we've been seeing this trend for some months now and for some trimesters now and we want to stop this trend and obviously, do initiatives for the middle and long term so we can return to our margins and even exceed them over time. But this is going to be something that's going to take time, but we're all focused and totally compromise on doing these changes.

[Operator]

Next question comes from Felipe Barragan, [ BTIG ].

[Unknown Analyst]

My question is on potential acquisitions. So we know that a [indiscernible] is trying to divest some properties. I understand that your portfolio does not include any properties under that brand. I would just like to pick your brain and your thoughts on maybe potentially adding that to your portfolio if that's something that's in your mind. Felipe,

[Simón Galante Zaga, executive]

As you know, strategically, for us, it's important to find the right use of capital, and what we believe is, at this point, our best use of capital is not to grow inorganically. We already have very attractive, very high return projects that we're working on with Danos, and we also believe that we want to lower our debt, so we're not happy where we are. We want to be less levered, and we want to continue to increase the dividend above inflation that we have in our policies.

So we will always look at opportunities and they are very attractive opportunities, we will definitely act on them. But right now in the market, I don't see any opportunity that is better than what we have in terms of our own portfolio in terms of lowering the debt in our business. Investing in these very attractive strategic projects, and that is really where our priorities lie. So we always look at opportunities. But at this point, I don't believe that is the best use of our capital, and we are more focused on other alternatives.

[Operator]

There are no further questions. Thank you for participating in FibraHotel's 2024 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to visit www.fibrahotel.com or contact us. This concludes today's call. Thank you, and have a good day.