Melia Hotels International SA

MAD:MEL

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q4

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to the Meliá Hotels International Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 (sic) [2021] (00:00:08) Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After the presentation, anybody who is interested will have a chance to ask questions, so we can resolve any additional doubts. Please note this event is being recorded.

I will now turn the call over to Stephane Baos, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Stephane Baos]

Thanks, operator. Welcome to Meliá fourth quarter and full year 2021 earnings call. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that our discussion this morning will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, and forward-looking statements made today speak only to our expectation as of today.

This morning, as usual, we have Gabriel Escarrer, our Vice President and Chief Executive Officer; Andre Gerondeau, our Chief Operating Officer; Pilar Dols, our Chief Financial Officer; and Mark Hoddinott, our Chief Real Estate Officer; and me. Gabriel Escarrer will provide an overview of the current operating environment. Andre will then review our fourth quarter onwards. Following these remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. In any case, the Investor Relations team will be available following this conference call to give you a chance to clarify anything else you might need. You can find our earnings release on our Investor Relations website at meliahotelsinternational.com.

And now, I am pleased to turn the call over to Gabriel.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Thank you, Stephane, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. 2021 was another difficult year for the global population as a result of a pandemic that is still with us, and that, despite the global vaccination program, has continued to disrupt society in general and travel in particular based, as we all know, on mobility and interaction between people.

2021 began as 2020 had ended, full of uncertainties due to the different waves of the pandemic. This meant that the key drivers of our resilience in 2020, our liquidity, efficiency, and collaboration with our partners and stakeholders continued to be needed in 2021 to manage a very complex and volatile financial year. So, our results show we made significant progress in our recovery throughout 2021. We saw a meaningful increase in demand for travel and tourism.

In this context, turning to results for the full year and fourth quarter. For the full year, we grew RevPAR by 14.9%, mainly thanks to the improvement of the average room rate during the year. We have seen a quarter-on-quarter increase with the fourth quarter showing an improvement in RevPAR of 163% compared to same period of 2020.

RevPAR was roughly 76% of Q4 2019 levels, with average room rate 5.8% above Q4 2019 numbers. Consolidated revenues, excluding capital gains, increased by 56.6% compared to 2020. For the fourth quarter itself, revenues increased by 212% compared to 2020. That represented 76% for the same period 2019. Operating expenses increased by 13.6% with respect to the previous year and decreased by 14.8% compared to 2019. Excluding the expenses associated with capital gains and the extraordinary expenses in 2020, that is the impairment of real estate investment and low provisions, cost increased by 16.7% compared to 2020. While some cost will come back in, and as we continue to recover, we remain extremely focused on cost discipline. Given our business model and the actual we took during the pandemic to further streamline our operations, we expect permanent margin improvement versus 2019 levels in 300 basis points over the next few years.

EBITDA, excluding capital gains, reached €61.5 million compared to minus €130.5 million in 2020. Depreciation and amortization decreased by €135.8 million compared to the previous year. The main difference was the impairments included in 2020 accounts.

The net financial results improved by 15.7%, representing €11.8 million of improvement compared to the same period in the previous year, mainly explained by the improvement in other financial results for which the same period in the previous year saw the impact of the impairment of other financial loans of minus-€14 million, as well as the improvement in financial expenses associated with leases caused by changes in interest rate estimates due to the renegotiation of some lease contracts due to COVID.

Interest expenses increased by 17.5% compared to the same period in the previous year due to the increase in bank debt. The net loss of the parent company reached minus €182.9 million, but we are confident that, in 2022, we will be able to reverse the situation and end the year with a positive net profit.

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the year with €2,853 million of net debt, an increase of €41.2 million over the financial – over the final quarter of the year. During this same period, the financial net debt pre-IFRS 16 increased by €24.7 million to €1,285 million, meaning an increase of €30.7 million over the entire 2021 financial year. At the end of December, the liquidity situation amounts to €404 million, representing €98 million in available cash balances, plus €306 million of undrawn credit lines.

We would like to remember that Meliá does not have any debt with financial covenants. It is also worth noting that our mortgage debt currently stands at around €300 million, which represents a loan-to-value of the existing owned properties below 9%. A limited proportion of the value of the company's owned properties. I would also like to point out that 52% of the debt is at fixed interest rate. Additionally, I would like to highlight that the company is working on the refinancing of upcoming maturities, which will extend the average maturity of the debt to 4.6 years.

Across this chapter, I would like to inform you that the company continues to analyze alternative ways of reducing debt and increasing liquidity as asset sales with the possibility of the long-term management contract.

I will now turn the call over to Andre to talk about our operational performance during the fourth quarter and forward in more detail. Please, Andre.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you, Gabriel, and good morning, everyone. Briefly and as far as 2021, just to confirm the evolution of the company's revenues by quarters, whereas Q2 double revenues of Q1, €153 million versus €76 million, and Q3 nearly doubled Q2, €291 million versus €153 million. And as explained, Q4 revenue stood at 76% of 2019 levels despite Omicron showing the evolution of the business.

Q4, in general, started to show good signs of demand recovery, mainly in EMEA capitals with better-than-expected pickup in Paris, Rome, Milan, Madrid, and others, as well as a solid beginning of the winter season in the Caribbean and Canary Islands confirming our view that 2022 was to be a positive year despite limited visibility once borders were reopening and restrictions to travel lifted.

As far as outlook and despite a continued lack of visibility, the beginning of the year has been affected by the Omicron variant, which had an impact on booking cancellations in January and mid-February. But with a foreseeable recovery from March onwards, we remain optimistic about accelerated recovery across all segments throughout 2022, subject it is to the uncertain development of the Russian war with Ukraine.

We anticipate strong leisure trends to continue again this year, driven by pent-up demand. Our revenue position for summer season is already ahead of 2019 levels. One of our key drivers continues to be the strengthening of the company's strategy towards qualitative RevPAR. As such, our average daily rate on the books is nearly 20% above 2019, driven by the strong positioning of our premium hotels, superior categories and suites, and extended food and beverage and destination experiences, reflecting our understanding of the new trends and expectation of our customers.

Travelling with a purpose – it is as well the right approach to absorb some of the increment in goods and services and impact on inflation and to guarantee a better flow-through moving in the right direction in achieving better margins as discussed on several occasions. Needless to say, that for the development of our brands and our distribution capabilities, this is as well a key element.

As far as our regions and, again, with the prevalence of the actual situation in Ukraine demands, we believe springtime would show signs of recovery for travel in the main European capitals with a similar trend as last autumn with solid demand in the short term, while our resort destinations, our strong leisure component, are showing positive signs for our summer season.

Canary Islands had an initial impact this winter given Omicron as well as our Caribbean operations, but they now show good signs of recovery and we see that the demand is there. So, some of the momentum lost will be recovered throughout the rest of the year. It is important to emphasize the performance of Meliá.com and Meliá Pro, our B2B strategy, which accounted for 51% of the revenues in 2021 and continue to lead this year along with a solid yield management strategy.

In general terms, corporate business still shows limited visibility and signs of recovery, same as most business, which some has been postponed in the Caribbean. However, a large portion of the business are incentive groups and requests continue to evolve with pent-up demand for winter 2023.

As far as development, in 2021, we progressively resumed the pace of openings, opening 30 new hotels between January and December 2021, 7 of them in Europe in cities such as Barcelona, Liverpool, Frankfurt, Newcastle and capital cities such as Amsterdam and Luxembourg, 1 in China and 5 resorts located in Phuket, Thailand, Rhodes, Greece, Benidorm and Majorca in Spain and Marrakesh in Morocco.

We also have continued to grow with new properties during 2021, signing 21 hotels with more than 4,800 rooms, most of them in Mediterranean vacation destinations like Spain, Greece, Sicily, Albania and Croatia, as well as Indonesia and China under brands by Innside, Affiliated Meliá and Meliá Collection.

In recent days, we have been closing expansion agreements such as the one signed with the Vinpearl group, a strategic alliance with the largest hotel owner in Vietnam, through which we will add 12 luxury hotels in the country by 2022 under the joint brand Meliá Vinpearl. This alliance, including more than 3,900 rooms which added to the 12 hotels already operating and in preparation that Meliá has in the country, will position ourselves as the second hotel company with the largest presence in Vietnam with 24 establishments and 6,900 rooms.

Our performance reflects our clear commitment to brands, online distribution and loyalty programs, as well as our focus on the growing luxury segment, a strategy that has also driven the group's expansion by positioning us as a safe harbor for independent hotel management and small chains at a time of growing competition and market consolidation.

I will now turn back the call over to Gabriel to summarize the main messages of the call.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Thank you, Andre. To end, I would like to highlight the following messages. In terms of outlook, we remain optimistic about accelerated recovery across all segments throughout 2022. We anticipate the strong measured trends to continue again this year, driven by pent-up demand. The on-the-books for the summer seasons in resorts of Spain are above 2019 levels, especially in the average price driven by demand and the group's commitment to its brands, its distribution channel, its loyalty program, and its focus on the luxury segment.

2021 once again demonstrated the great competitive advantage represented by digitalization, thanks to which Meliá Hotels International has positioned itself as a leader in distribution, with its own Meliá.com channel already contributing more 51% of the group's total centralized sales. This also contributed to maintain its commitment to preserving the average room rate, an effort that is reflected in the evolution of RevPAR, which is increasingly qualitative, with an improvement in the average rate that partly offset the irregular performance of occupancy.

In addition to distribution, Meliá's commitment to leading the digital transformation also includes the back and front of these processes, optimizing personalized customer service throughout the use of new technologies. While some costs will come back in as we continue to recover, we remain extremely focused on cost discipline. Given our business model and the actions we took during the pandemic to further streamline our operations, we expect permanent margin improvement versus 2019 levels in the range of 300 basis points over the next few years.

We would like to reiterate our strong commitment that one of the company's top priorities is to maintain sufficient liquidity and to see debt reduction. The company continues to consider asset disposal with the possibility of the long-term management contract in addition to the one made at the end of June 2021.

We work hard to ensure that our hospitality continues to have a positive impact on the communities we serve. We are honored to be named as one of the global industry leaders in the Corporate Sustainability Assessment made by Standard & Poor's Global for the fourth year in a row, which placed the company in the Silver Class category in its 2022 Sustainable Yearbook.

Turning to development, I would like to highlight the fact that 42 new hotels have been added in the last six months, all of them through management and franchise agreement. As the almost 11,000 rooms included in these new agreements, particularly multiplied by three, the average number of rooms per year signed in the last pre-COVID years, 2018 and 2019. This report coincides with the end of the so-called sixth wave caused by the Omicron variant. Also, we must still remain extremely prudent. This may become a turning point that will mark the end of the global disruption caused by COVID and the beginning of a new era of living with a virus that has changed everything.

Again, with the greatest presence, if there are no major surprises, we believe 2022 will be a historic year for resort tourism, which may recover the RevPAR levels seen in 2019, thanks to reduced disruption and a new stage that will allow greater social interaction and mobility, releasing all the pent-up demand for travel. At Meliá Hotels International, we expect to be at the forefront of this historic change. And as a leading company in the tourism industry, we will continue to do our very best to lead a solid, responsible, and sustainable recovery together with all our stakeholders.

We hope we have been able to explain the situation to your satisfaction. We will now be happy to answer any questions you may have. Please let me remind you that I'm here with Andre Gerondeau, Pilar Dols, Mar Hoddinott, and Stephane Baos. Operator, please.

[Operator]

Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]

The first question comes from André Juillard from Deutsche Bank. André, please go ahead.

[André Juillard, Analyst, Deutsche Bank AG (France)]

Good morning, gentlemen, and Pilar, sorry. Thank you for this conference call. First question about development. Could you give us some more color about the regions and the type of hotels you've been opening and signing? Second question in terms of CapEx, what do we have to anticipate for 2022 and 2023 average level? And I had a question about government helps because you've been benefiting from additional adds during Q4. Are you expecting some new helps in 2022 or not? And if yes, could you quantify that, please? Thank you. Hello?

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Good morning, André. Thank you very much for your question. This is Andre Gerondeau. I will first answer the development question, if you allow me. A couple of things. One, to say that close to 90% of all developments and hotels signed are asset-light properties, out of which 60% is in our franchise model that, as you know, we launched Affiliated by Meliá and Meliá Collection this year, and 40% are management contracts.

We have brands in our premium portfolio, meaning Gran Meliá, ME and

[indiscernible]

(00:22:09) Meliá and Innside hotels. And what's very important is to strengthen our vision and our strategy of become and continue to be leaders in the leisure and bleisure segments. So, we've been signing properties in the Mediterranean, reinforcing our presence in the volcanic areas, Albania, Greece, obviously, Spain and as well as Southeast Asia. Different destinations, Thailand, and of course, the strategic alliance with Vinpearl, which is going to drive us as the second largest hotel company in the area. That's basically it unless you have any further specific questions.

[Stephane Baos]

André, regarding the CapEx that we expect for 2022 and 2023 and taking into account that – remember that the sales of the asset that we have made in 2021 was the last order that they need some important CapEx. We expect to have around €70 million for 2022 and around probably €80 million for 2023. That could be the capital maintenance that we expect for these years. And going to the government helps, as we released yesterday, the company has received around €36 million of direct helps coming from the different governments in Europe. The main contributor in that

[indiscernible]

(00:23:45) has been Germany. These helps have been cashed in. That mean we only have put in the accounts the amount that we have received in cash. We know that we could expect some additionals, but that's going to be more in 2022. But once we receive the cash, we're going to include it. I cannot give you a number now because we need to see what is going to be the situation in coming months. I don't know if you have other questions, André?

[André Juillard, Analyst, Deutsche Bank AG (France)]

Thank you very much. Maybe one following one. You've always been saying that if an opportunity in terms of M&A would come, you would consider it. Do you see any opportunities coming in Spain or in other countries that could make sense for you?

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you, André. None at this point. We're focused on growing our partnerships and the opportunities on development. But we have nothing really at this point that we can share.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

But having said that, André, this is Gabriel Escarrer, I believe as an organic growth, you should expect a very good increase in the number of properties that will be added under management of franchise hotels in the next coming months. And a proven track record is what we have achieved in the last six months, adding 42 new hotels, and that's roughly 11,000 rooms. So, I believe there's a good opportunity to keep increasing the portfolio of the company in organic growth, mainly through leisure properties that are either in the Mediterranean Rim, in the Caribbean or Southeast Asia.

[Stephane Baos]

André, only one point additional about the government help, only to point that about the €36 million that we received in 2020, we put in the accounts in 2021, €15 million, 1-5 million euro was included in the Q4 numbers.

[André Juillard, Analyst, Deutsche Bank AG (France)]

Yeah. Sure. Thank you very much.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Thank you, André. Merci.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Guilherme Sampaio at CaixaBank. Guilherme, please go ahead.

[Guilherme Macedo Sampaio, Analyst, CaixaBank]

Hello. Thank you for taking my question. So, just three for me. The first one, how should we think about cash flow

[indiscernible]

(00:26:25) in the first quarter of this year? I understand that for next quarter it's a bit difficult to have a lot of visibility, but any color would be good. And then just to clarify, in terms of the net profit – positive net profit expectations that you expect for this year, is it with or without potential capital gains with assets now? Thanks.

[Stephane Baos]

Hi Guilherme. How are you? Regarding the cash burn for the first quarter, it's true that, as Andre and Gabriel had mentioned, the first quarter, January and February had been hitting by the Omicron. And we will have some cash burn really in January and February. We expect for the full quarter some negative – some cash burn. But still I need to see the recovery that we are facing now in March. Let me see and I will give you more details in the coming months when we will have more vision. About the net profit that we expect for 2022 is excluding positive or slight positive, but it's excluding the capital gains.

[Guilherme Macedo Sampaio, Analyst, CaixaBank]

Okay. Thanks.

[Operator]

The next question comes from João Safara from Banco Santander. João, please go ahead.

[João Safara Silva, Analyst, Banco Santander SA]

Yes. Hi. Thank you. Well, first one follow-up on Guilherme's question, just to be clear. So, the net profit will be excluding capital gains? That's just if you could confirm that. And then going to my questions, just two question from my side. I mean, what we've seen in the recent two – the past two years in terms of the penetration of the direct channel has been impressive. Also, I think the pandemic also helped a lot in that sense. And when I look at 2022 and based on your outlook, you expect still an improvement in ADR. And what I wanted to understand is how much of this is coming from, let's say, replicating the performance that you had in 2021 from the direct channel.

My question here is basically, at some point, shouldn't we expect to see the direct channel decreasing its percentage as of total sales as other channels become more popular and so that could impact your ADRs in – I don't know, if in 2022 or 2023. So, if you could share a bit your view on what we expect from that. And then also linked to this is the 300 basis points of EBITDA margin improvement. I expect this also relies a great deal on having sales through the direct channel, so if you could basically give us your expectations in terms of what you expect direct channel to still contribute in the next coming years. Thank you.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you. Yeah. It's confirmed that we've said net profit is excluding capital gains, to your first question. And in terms of direct channels, it is true that we are not expecting in the short term to – this 51% has been impacted, as you well said, by the decrease in other segments and channels. However, we continue to strengthen the strategy in B2B and B2C. And today, in terms of the business we've generated so far for the future, we're still at 45%, 47% levels with Meliá.com. So, it might decrease a little bit, but our vision is that we should be able to stabilize 50% in the coming future.

I think it's important to note that the portfolio has been upgraded, that we continue to strengthen our relationship with our over 13 million members of Meliá Rewards, and that everything points out as a trend on travel, which is expecting more demand again in superior categories, suites and our premium brand. So, as we've said today, today on the books, we are over 19% above ADR of 2019 levels, and we still have room to grow in terms of occupancy, which is probably 12%, 14% behind. So, we will continue to maximize yield management and we'll continue to push for those elements. We're now launching our new Meliá.com web in the coming months before the end of April, beginning of May, and this will have added capabilities to continue selling other revenues and strengthening our positioning.

So, yes, we do believe that this is a way to move forward. This is where the demand is taking us. This is where we want to position the company. And as we've said before, it is a flow-through that it's required in order to absorb some of the increment in cost and to allow us to continue the strategy of increasing the 300 basis points along with the transformation of the company that we've explained before, digital and otherwise. I don't know if that helps answer the question.

[João Safara Silva, Analyst, Banco Santander SA]

Yes, Andre. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Iván San Félix at Renta 4. Ivan, please go ahead.

[Iván San Félix Carbajo, Analyst, Renta 4 Sociedad de Valores SA]

Yes. Good morning and thank you for holding the call and congratulations on the pace of the recovery. I'd like to ask you on a couple of issues, please. First, could you please tell us, give us some pointers on – in the outlook in America and the Canary Islands in the first quarter, given that it's high season in those markets to may have a sense of bookings compared to pre-COVID levels.

And then the second issue would be on the strategic agreement in Vietnam given that you're strengthening your exposure into the country. It's great destination, by the way. If I could ask you a couple of questions on this, maybe the expected date of opening of the hotels. What would be the contract like? Would it be a JV? Would it be a management contract? If you could tell us maybe do you foresee any change in traveling policies coming soon in Asia and maybe if you could tell us what would be the main

[ph]

city (00:33:48) markets into Vietnam, I guess, China. Do you see any growing demand in traveling to Vietnam from other markets given that traveling within Asia has been so restricted in the last few years? Those would be my questions. Thank you very much.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Yes, Ivan. Thank you very much. This is Andre. If I may, I'll start with the Vinpearl question. First of all, Vietnam is known to be probably the next Thailand of Southeast Asia. We're very excited because we're actually covering almost the full map of leisure destinations within the country. We are already before this agreement with Vinpearl. Vinpearl, as you probably know, is one of the largest conglomerates in Vietnam, ranging from energy to other services as well. And we've come to an agreement to start managing some of their properties. So, this is a strategic alliance to take over their existing properties. So, we've already started managing two of their properties. And from here until the month of June, the takeover of the other 10 properties will be happening. So, by the end of June, we would have take over 12 properties with nearly 4,000 rooms, and there's still room to grow with Vinpearl who has over 30 hotel properties and is looking for a hotel partner.

And this is where, given our experience in Vietnam and our performance of the past few years, we've been in negotiations and conversations to drive the hotel strategy for the group. There are different properties throughout the country. Some of them have an influence on domestic market. But most of them are markets that are fed by the Asian market at least pre-COVID. So, we're starting to see some of the countries opening up. As you know, Thailand, Vietnam, slowly opening up. So, I think this is about getting ready for when things open up. We've been able to take over some of the properties, go through the learning curve, establish the relationship with Vinpearl and, from that point forward, potentially keep growing with them in our portfolio with different brands.

So, this is a relationship with Vinpearl. We're very excited, because that represents a strong positioning of the company in Southeast Asia; as you know, one of the largest areas for leisure in the world. And we believe that the agreement with Vinpearl will open up conversations for other larger agreements in the area and to the point earlier of organic growth versus larger strategic alliances. This shows that we're able to drive major growth with partners in different directions, and these are management contracts again.

In terms of America, you know that Omicron hit everywhere, including America, and America was probably a few weeks behind this whole COVID process. So, for the first couple of months, we did get an impact, an important one for Mexico and Dominican Republic. But it's important to note that we were already pacing above 2019 levels. So, we're going to end up Q1 very close to 2019 levels in Mexico and Dominican Republic.

But there's still demand. So, we're seeing that demand for eastern and onward, still there. As we said, my business has been postponed for obvious reasons, but there is a lot of interest for incentive business from the US market. So, requests for proposal are moving forward for the end of the year and beginning of 2023. And same was the case for the Canary Islands. So, we did have an impact in January. The first six weeks of the year is where Omicron had an impact, but we're now seeing the recovery in some of these destinations, specifically with the UK opening up and allowing travel with less restrictions. So, we think that the Canary Islands will be recovering in the next few months as well. I don't know if that answers your questions, Ivan.

[Iván San Félix Carbajo, Analyst, Renta 4 Sociedad de Valores SA]

Oh, sure. And that's very thorough. Thank you very much, Andre. And Vietnam looks very promising. So, congratulations.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you very much. Very exciting.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Jaime Pallares from GVC Gaesco. Jaime, please go ahead.

[Jaime Pallares Garcia, Analyst, GVC Gaesco Valores SV SA]

Hello, good morning. And thanks for the presentation. Just one question from my side. And taking into account the proven resilience of leisure hotels versus urban hotels during the pandemic, are you expecting or even experiencing more competition in the Caribbean from, for example, big American urban chains that want to expand their operations to this region? And what impact could this have on prices? Thank you.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Yes, Jaime. Thank you. Yes. Clearly, there is – there's been a competition for some years now in the Caribbean from the US brands. It is true that it's not under

[ph]

ADN – DNA (00:39:10) in terms of all-inclusive resorts in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. But they're investing and they're buying their way in. So, we do expect competition from these companies the likes of Marriott or Hyatt acquiring AMResorts. We are very conscious of that. The reality is, as well, that we're also expecting they're going to drive more customers into those markets, and we're not that familiar with the destination as well. So, it is our mission to continue to grow market share within those competitors.

[Jaime Pallares Garcia, Analyst, GVC Gaesco Valores SV SA]

Thank you.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

My pleasure.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Bruno de La Rochebrochard from Bryan, Garnier. Bruno, please go ahead.

[Bruno de La Rochebrochard, Analyst, Bryan, Garnier & Co Ltd. (France)]

Yes. Good morning, everyone. And maybe a follow-up on the quarter one. Could we expect positive numbers during quarter one because of World Cup? And also, one remains

[indiscernible]

(00:40:14), what represents Russian of the group's clientele today?

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Hi, Bruno. Regarding the Russians, it could represent around 1 point. If we go back to 2019, two years, that represent around 1.3 percentage – below 1.5% of the total revenues or total room nights at the end. That's that participation on the total nationalities. And regarding the positive number, that we expect there's a positive EBITDA for Q1 we expect, but net results are still due to the COVID impact, the Omicron, we didn't see that. I don't know that's the answer. Is that okay, Bruno?

[Bruno de La Rochebrochard, Analyst, Bryan, Garnier & Co Ltd. (France)]

Yes. Thank you.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Merci.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Bosco Ojeda from UBS. Bosco, please go ahead.

[Bosco Ojeda, Analyst, UBS Europe SE (Spain)]

Hi. Good morning. Yeah. I just wanted to confirm if you still keep your target to make this growth of around €200 million for the second quarter and how that process is going? And also, well, just to confirm, I think you mentioned your pricing is up nearly 20%. I guess that's for the bookings that you have in your portfolio at the moment. I just wanted to check. I mean, I think you mentioned 20%, but what's the – 20% is that to prior bookings or is that your expectation for pricing? Thank you.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you, Bosco. Good morning. Just to confirm, yes, we are 19% above ADR 2019 levels on the books today with minus 15% in terms of room nights, which allowed us to continue strengthening our yield management strategy. But we do expect to be above 2019 levels, probably the number – the final number to be defined within the next few weeks.

[Mark Maurice Hoddinott]

Bosco, hi. Mark Hoddinott speaking. Regarding your question on asset disposal, the – any possible asset disposal would be in the second half of the year and it just would be something between €170 million and €200 million.

[Bosco Ojeda, Analyst, UBS Europe SE (Spain)]

Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Iñigo Egusquiza from Kepler. Iñigo, please go ahead.

[Iñigo Egusquiza, Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux SA (Spain)]

Hi. Good morning. Good morning, all. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a follow-up on the asset disposals. You mentioned that the sale is going to happen in the second part of 2022. This is the first question. And on the asset disposal as well, are you planning to do a – to prepare a new gross asset value during 2022?

And the second question on the net debt. I was wondering if you can clarify a bit the reasons why we have seen around €25 million cash burn in Q4 2021 considering that the EBITDA of Q4 was similar to Q3 EBITDA with an extra cash inflow coming from the subsidies in Europe. So, the reason for this cash burn. Thank you.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Regarding the asset valuation, we are expecting to do an asset valuation in the second half of the year, correct. And also, going through the question that Bosco says about these asset sales, to confirm that, we are seeing more in the second part of the year.

[Gabriel Juan Escarrer Jaume]

Early second part of the year.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Then, about the net debt in Q4, that usually happen. Remember that we used to have some resort hotel, seasonality hotel that used to be closed at the month of October, November. And that doesn't help for the cash situation. And probably, that's one of the points. And every year, you have something like that that when the seasonality ends, you have some hotel that will not produce for a week, two weeks and it's the moment that you start to close them. Then that doesn't contribute anything on the situation. I don't know, Iñigo, it's okay?

[Iñigo Egusquiza, Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux SA (Spain)]

Thank you. Very clear. Gracias.

[Foreign Language] (00:45:23)

[Operator]

The next question comes from Fernando Abril from Alantra. Fernando, please go ahead.

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, Analyst, Alantra Equities Sociedad de Valores SA]

Hi. Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I have a couple of them, please. So, I know that there is, well, limited visibility, but – of bookings around the world. But I think that it would be very useful considering the trends that you are highlighting and summer season looks strong here in Spain. So, I was wondering if you could give us a guidance range of group sales by 2022. It would be very helpful. Or, at least what are you forecasting considering that you are targeting to be a slightly positive net profit this year?

And second question is with regards to the sales channel. So, I know that this is a strategy that you started a few years ago, is – should be one of the main margins driver in the next few years. But at the same time, it has – it requires a lot of CapEx or at least CapEx investments as well. And we've recently seen that Marriott has decided to outsource their IT part of the CRS to an IT provider. So, I was wondering why – or if you could clarify why your strategy is better than Marriott, for example, or other hoteliers,

[ph]

way off (00:47:13) your strategy, so in terms of profitability.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Yeah. Thank you, Fernando. And thank you for saying that our strategy is better than Marriott's. It's not what we're saying, but we appreciate your vision. No, I think that – two parts, we will see 2019 levels achieved in terms of our total sales for the group. This is our expectations for the summer, specifically in our resort destinations. So, we will see those levels. This is what we're aiming for and this is the way we are presenting our whole strategy.

Specifically in Spain, we have pent-up demand for Baleares and Costas. And we see where the numbers are heading and where demand is heading. So, again, I think we all need to recognize that given the circumstances with Russia and Ukraine, we need to be very prudent on what we're saying this morning. But other than that, we should be able to reach those levels.

Now, in terms of our distribution, I think the way to measure is that, first, we've been moving most of our services to cloud services. And we're becoming far more efficient and we're putting all of our distribution capabilities as well into the franchise model. And as you know, this allowed us to have better economies of scale. And of course, increasing our footprint in our Meliá rewards member in our different destinations. Now, what's important for us today is that our direct channel is probably 8% to 10% more efficient than any other distribution channel. And this is where we're going to strengthen our vision for the time being because we still have room to grow and we still have room to consolidate our relationship under personalization and we're launching a new web.

So, today, we really need to make sure we control the whole process, that we add value to our partners and that we are far more efficient than any other distribution channel. Time will tell if there's any other different strategy in the future. I don't know if this answers your question, Fernando.

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, Analyst, Alantra Equities Sociedad de Valores SA]

Sure. Thank you. Just to follow up on the sales. And by the full year, what sales guidance range of sales would you expect and

[indiscernible]

(00:49:27).

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

No, no. We wouldn't dare to give you an answer on that Fernando. But probably within the future conversations, we might. Thank you.

[Fernando Abril-Martorell, Analyst, Alantra Equities Sociedad de Valores SA]

Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[Operator]

Our final question is a follow up from Guilherme Sampaio from CaixiaBank. Guilherme, please go ahead.

[Guilherme Macedo Sampaio, Analyst, CaixaBank]

Yes. Good morning. Just to follow up on the ADR references.

[indiscernible]

(00:49:56) refers to your whole portfolio or only to Spanish resorts?

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Mainly to Spanish resorts at this point. But overall, we have a positive ADR versus 2019. But this 19% is Spanish resorts for summer on the books, Guilherme.

[Guilherme Macedo Sampaio, Analyst, CaixaBank]

Okay. Okay. Thank you very much.

[Andre Philippe Gerondeau]

Thank you.

[Operator]

We have no further questions.

[Stephane Baos]

Thank you very much. Okay. Then, we finish then. Thank you very much for your attention and your time. We hope that we have been helpful here. Please do not hesitate to contact our Investor Relations department for any further questions you might have. Thank you very much. Have a nice day. Bye-bye.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.