Despite a difficult business environment, the 2002 results of the Swiss hotel group Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts (MH&R) were in the black at year end.  The EBITDA (Earnings before interest and taxes depreciation and amortisation) for the 2002 fiscal year was reported at CHF 12.8 million, and overall turnover dropped by only 1.5 percent. The secure and debt-free financial situation - an exception within the hotel industry - will provide the basis for the hotel group’s further growth.
Consolidated turnover including management op-erations dropped by only 1.5 percent to CHF 403.6 million compared to the previous year (CHF 409.5 million in 2001). Where EBITDA was at CHF 19.8 mil-lion in 2001, it was at CHF 12.8 million in 2002. However, corrected from currency fluctuation, the EBITDA dropped only by 26.9 percent versus last year. Anti-cyclical investments for renovations at the Mövenpick Hotels in Münster, Kassel, Den Haag, Lausanne, Zurich, Geneva, and Egerkingen were carried out in order to modernize rooms and res-taurants and primarily to completely update and adapt the conference areas to the needs of busi-ness travelers and tourists. In addition, the ca-pacities were raised in the Mövenpick Resort El Quseir, Egypt (72 additional rooms), the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea, Jordan (130 additional rooms), and in the Mövenpick Hotel Frankfurt-Oberursel (42 additional rooms). Facilities were also improved through additional restaurants, swimming pools, and new conference rooms.
Besides this broad renovation program, four new hotels opened during 2002: The award-winning Mövenpick Hotel & Resort in Beirut, Lebanon; the Mövenpick Hotel Cairo Media City in Egypt; one new hotel in Jeddah/Saudi Arabia and the Sealine Beach Resort in Qatar.
The markets in Germany, Switzerland, and the Mid-dle East proved difficult. The consequences of 11 September 2001, the Swissair grounding with huge drops in traffic for Switzerland and especially the greater Zurich region, economic stagnation in Germany, the Intifada in the Middle East, as well as the strong Swiss Franc versus other currencies had a decisive negative impact on the overall results of the hotel group.
As was previously announced at the beginning of March, the individual business sectors within Mövenpick Holding will function as independent units in the future. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will continue to be managed by President and CEO Jean Gabriel Pérès, as an independent associate company of the Mövenpick Holding. Bruno H. Schöpfer remains Chairman of the Board of the Hotel Group.
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will exceed the 50-hotel and 10,000-room targets in 2003 and thus adhere to its established expansion objectives. In 2001, the group counted 42 hotels and 8`061 rooms, which grew to 46 hotels with just under 9`000 rooms by the end of 2002, representing growth of over 11 percent. Since February 2003, the Mövenpick Hotel Kuwait and the new Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul have been added to our portfolio; operations in Berlin, Bahrain as well as Taba and El Alamein (both in Egypt), will be opened during the course of the year. After 17 successful years, the management contract of the Mövenpick Hotel Cairo Heliopolis was renewed for the third time, an expression of the owning company`s trust in MH&R`s management.

“Targeted growth continues to characterize our strategy as we move forward”, stated Jean Gabriel Pérès. “Just recently, two more management contracts were signed for the Mövenpick Hotel Dubai Pearl (opening in 2005) and a resort in the Disneyland® Resort Paris complex (opening date spring 2004). Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East exclusively remain our regions for expansion with a primary focus on capital cities, airports, and exceptional vacation destinations.”
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is currently represented with 48 hotels in 14 countries and focuses on two hotel types, the business and conference hotel and the holiday resort. Whilst the business hotels are located near the city centre or the airport and offer an optimum infrastructure for the business traveller, the holiday resorts are situated in outstanding destinations. The hotel group is represented in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Saudi-Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar.
——-