Sol Meliá Hotels Announces New Corporate Name

Sol Meliá Hotels Announces New Corporate Name

Sol Meliá held its Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting 2011, which approved the accounts for 2010 and the distribution of a 10 million euro dividend (0,043902€ per share), compared to 7.6 million euros in 2009.

The meeting, which attracted a quorum of 82.9 percent of the share capital, also ratified the appointment of a new independent director, Luis Maria Diaz de Bustamante; approved the management by the Board of Directors; and, as usual in the Annual General Meeting, empowered the board to approve capital increases in line with the provisions of Spanish Company Law. This empowerment enables the board to decide at any time a capital increase without any need to call an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting.

In his speech, Chairman Gabriel Escarrer explained a proposed amendment to Article 1 of the company’s bylaws which proposes a change of name from “Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts S.A.” to “Meliá Hotels International S.A.” According to Escarrer, the objective of the amendment is to adapt the corporate brand to the company’s actual structure and diverse portfolio, and provide coherence and competitiveness to the brand architecture to support the company’s strategy for global growth and diversification.

The “Meliá Hotels International” name continues to benefit from the significant value added by Meliá, the company’s most international brand, as well as the trust and reliability the brand has generated given its track record and leadership, its brand awareness and potential in various different markets.

The company chairman took stock of the three-year period from 2008 to 2010, during which the hotel company had to deal with the worst crisis that the tourism industry had ever experienced, demonstrating a resilience and adaptability that have allowed the company to come out of the crisis even stronger than before.

“Our vision,” he said, “was focused on keeping the business going and short-term results and making that compatible with strengthening the company for the medium and long term.” To achieve this, the company adopted strategic and tactical measures in a Contingency Plan, but the company’s main lifeline, according to Escarrer, was the international expansion through which Sol Meliá added or signed 78 new hotels during the period with 20,597 rooms.

Over the past year, the company has met market expectations and consolidated the improvement in RevPAR, thanks to rate management and the consolidation of its growth, improving net profit over the year by 31.5 percent. Escarrer also stressed the significant progress made with regards to the company’s commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, such as the strategic alliance with UNICEF for the protection of children, the agreement with the Foundation ONCE to promote the employment of disabled people and the addition of sustainability objectives to the variable bonuses of employees.

The diversification of the company over the last three years has meant that Sol Meliá EBITDA generated outside Spain grew from 57 percent to 77 percent. This trend will continue to drive a growth strategy focused on the most dynamic markets through alliances with local leaders. Evidence of this has seen the opening of new destinations in 2010, such as Shanghai and Dubai, as well as the alliance with the American hotel giant Wyndham for the TRYP brand and the most recent alliance with the Chinese leader, Jin Jiang.

With the 55th anniversary of the company falling in 2011, Escarrer also focused his speech on the company’s plans for the future. He defined a comprehensive renovation of the company in the following four areas -- New Strategic Plan 2012-14, which the company is already preparing; renewal of the company’s internal mission, culture and corporate values; organizational adaptation with reinforcement of the Asia Pacific and real estate business areas; and new corporate name, approved by the General Meeting, of Melia Hotels International.