Casablanca – Risma, Accor Group’s investment vehicle in Morocco, reported 2016 Net Income Group Share (NIGS) at MAD 91m vs. a loss of MAD 71m in 2015.
The strong performance at the bottom-line level was boosted by some exceptional items: In fact, the sale of two parcels of land generated gains of MAD 43m.
Furthermore, the result was positively impacted by a debt dumping relative to the SAEMOG project in Essaouira. Finally, Risma benefited from a compensation amount of MAD 62m relative to the accounting irregularities issue which happened in 2015.
Regarding EBIT margin, it stood at 13% (+3 percentage points vs. 2015). Indeed, EBIT soared by 19% to MAD 177m thanks to effective cost management along with lower depreciation expenses; while revenue slid by 5% to MAD 1,406m as a result of the temporary shutdown of two hotels for renovations.
If we were to compare revenue growth within the same scope, revenue would have only decreased by 2% YoY driven by a 9% jump of revenue in the second semester vs. the first semester.
Occupancy rate stood at 62%, well-above the market rate which stood at 40%. This outperformance happened in spite of the renovation program impacting many sites. This occupancy rate (62%) is to be compared to a rate of 63% in 2015 which takes into account the temporary shutdown for renovations of Ibis Rabat Agdal (since November 2015) and Ibis Casablanca gare (since May 2016).
On a comparable basis, the occupancy rate increased by 2 percentage points year-over-year in the second half of 2016 and stood at 64%, hence counterbalancing the weakness in the first half of the year with a rate at 60% vs. 65% a year before.
Ibis Rabat Agdal has already opened in January 2017 with a capacity increase of 72%, while the other one is due to reopen later on with an expected capacity increase of 23%. In 2017, Risma will also launch the construction of an Ibis hotel in the Abdelmoumen area in Casablanca. This hotel is expected to be inaugurated in 2019.
Risma is the leading hotel operator in Morocco in terms of all of total room nights, total capacity and regional presence: The group manages 27 hotels in 13 cities (prime locations), 4,085 rooms and 1.5 million night stays (8% of the total nights stays in Morocco) in 2015.
