October 27 (SeeNews) - Croatian hotel operator Valamar Riviera [ZSE:RIVP-R-A] said on Thursday its consolidated EBITDA rose 18% on the year to 657 million kuna ($95.7 million/87.6 million euro) in the first nine months of 2016.
The company's total revenues increased 19% year-on-year to 1.5 billion kuna in the nine months ended September 30, as sales revenues rose 15% to 1.4 billion kuna, it said in a filing with the Zagreb bourse.
Valamar Riviera recorded an 8% growth in overnight stays to 4,926,274 in the review period.
Investments worth more than 260 million kuna were focused on further increasing the quality of Valamar Riviera’s portfolio of hotels, apartments, and campsites. Over 50% of total investments were aimed at the development of accommodation, services and camp facilities operating under the brand Camping Adriatic by Valamar.
Also in 2016, the company acquired a 40.08% stake in hotel operator Imperial and concluded an agreement with mandatory private pension fund AZ, which holds a 19.45% stake in Imperial, for joint action towards acquiring the Rab-based hotel operator.
In 2017, the company plans investments of over 750 million kuna, of which more than 50% is earmarked for raising the quality of tourism products and services at the Rabac destination.
Valamar plans to end 2016 with consolidated revenues of 1.46 to 1.48 billion kuna and EBITDA of over 500 million kuna.
The Valamar group runs hotels, apartment villages and campsites in Istria and in 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=7.50219 kuna)