November 4 (SeeNews) - Croatian hotel operator Valamar Riviera [ZSE:RIVP-R-A] said its consolidated EBITDA rose 2.7% on the year to 880.2 million kuna ($131.8 million/118.1 million euro) in the first nine months of 2019.
The company's sales revenues increased 9.1% year-on-year to 2.017 billion kuna in the nine months ended September 30, while the EBITDA margin fell to 43.2% from 45.9% a year earlier, it said in a filing with the Zagreb Stock Exchange last week.
Sales revenues growth was largely driven by a 9% rise in board revenues to 1.692 million kuna and 7% higher extra F&B (food and beverages) revenues, the company said.
Valamar's total revenue rose by 7.7% year-on-year to 2.068 billion kuna in the first nine months of 2019.
The company recorded a rise of 4.5% in the number of overnight stays to 6,424,233 in the review period, while the average daily rate rose by 5.3% to 614 kuna.
Board revenue growth was mainly driven by a strong investment cycle to improve competitiveness and quality of facilities and services, the consolidation of Hoteli Makarska and Valamar Obertauern Hotel operations, better results in the pre- and post-season, and the development of destination products with added value, Valamar said.
The company also completed its investments cycle worth over 790 million kuna, a majority of which was focused on the repositioning of Istria camping resort towards the Premium segment, making it the first big 5-star camping facility in Croatia.
The supervisory boards of Valamar Riviera and Imperial Riviera have granted their general prior approval for the 2020 investment cycle totaling over 700 million kuna.
The hotel operator expects its EBITDA to come in between 750 million kuna and 760 million kuna in business year 2019, while total consolidated operating revenues are projected to reach a sum between 2.175 billion kuna and 2.200 billion kuna.
Valamar Riviera's shares traded at 37.90 kuna by 1042 CET on Monday on ZSE, down 0.26% from Thursday's close. The ZSE was closed for trading on Friday for a national holiday.
The Valamar group runs hotels, apartment villages and campsites in Istria, Dubrovnik and on the islands of Krk and Pag.
Tourism is a key industry for Croatia, generating around a fifth of the country's gross domestic product.
(1 euro = 7.45297 kuna)