Sol Meliá has achieved profits after tax of 1,475 million pesetas in the first quarter of 1998, an increase of 21.6% over the same period in 1997.

During the first three months of the year, the Company generated management fee revenues of 3,265 million pesetas, an increase of 15.1% over the previous year.

These improved results are credited to the incorporation of new hotels and improvements in management and sales, accompanied by healthy market conditions in the tourism industry for both city and resort hotels.

Amongst the Company’s different divisions performance has been strongest in the European City and European Resort Divisions, with increases in management fee revenues of 29.2% and 22.4%, respectively. The Company’s Cuban Division has also achieved an increase of 11.5% in revenues compared to the first three months of 1997.

Sol Meliá is the first and only Spanish hotel company quoted on the stock exchange and has seen its share value increase by 18% during the first quarter, reaching 7,200 pesetas per share and a total share capital of 223,200 million pesetas. During the course of the first three months of the year, the value of the Company’s shares reached a maximum 8,300 pesetas.

Growth and development in Europe and the Caribbean:
Sol Meliá has taken over 32 new establishments in the first quarter, far exceeding the initial forecasts for the period. Amongst the most recent incorporations, one of the most important has been the purchase of the Croatian hotel management company Croatian Hotels and Resorts, making Sol Meliá the leading hotel management company in Croatia with a total of 21 tourist facilities in the Istrian peninsula.

This considerable growth has been given a further boost by the recent agreements reached with two hotels in Galicia as well as the signature of contracts in Cuba to manage four new hotels, further reinforcing the Company’s leadership of the hotel industry in one of the fastest growing destinations in the Caribbean, with a total of 12 hotels now managed by Sol Meliá.

Sol Meliá expects this pattern of growth to continue in the future through the signature of additional hotel management and franchise agreements with independent hotels, focusing on large tourism complexes and the formation of joint ventures with leading hotel companies in other markets.

In June, the Company will begin operating the Gran Meliá Caracas, an emblematic hotel in the Venezuelan capital owned by Meliá Inversiones Americanas (MIA). Located next to the Recreo Mall shopping centre and in the heart of the city’s financial and administrative district, the Gran Meliá Caracas will provide a total of 431 rooms alongside a residential complex of 236 apartments.

Sol Meliá is the leading Spanish hotel company and the third largest hotel company in Europe with 245 hotels in 25 countries on 4 continents providing around 60,000 rooms.

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