Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the PPHE Hotel Group Limited investor presentation. Questions are encouraged.

They can be submitted at any time via the Q&A tab that's just situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Please just simply type in your questions and press send.

The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and will publish responses where it's appropriate to do so on the Investor Meet Company platform.

Before we begin, we would just like to submit the following poll, and if you could give that your kind attention, I'm sure the company would be most grateful. I would now like to hand over to the team from PPHE Hotel Group.

Greg, good morning, sir.

Hello, good morning. Good morning, and welcome to our 2024 half-year results.

My name is Greg Hegarty. I'm the Co-CEO of PPHE Hotel Group.

To my left, I'm joined by Robert, our EVP of Commercial. To my right, I have Daniel Kos, our Chief Financial Officer.

We are really pleased to report good solid half-first half-year results, good strong operating performance. Before we get into the detail, I think it would be poignant to show a quick video.

Thank you. Thank you for that.

All right. What we're going to do, I'm going to talk you through some of our strategic and operational updates.

We have had several strategic financing highlights during the period. These include the acquisition of the freehold of Park Plaza London Waterloo for £147.9 million, which was funded by a new five-year facility at £136.5 million.

This transaction has simplified simplified and strengthened our balance sheet, and Daniel will take you through that a little bit more as we go through the presentation. We also refinanced our art'otel in Rome for €27.6 million, which was also on a five-year facility.

That's in euros. As a further highlight, most recently, we have disposed of our New York development site last Friday at $33.5 million U.S.

The reason for that was really predominantly due to regulation changes, and with the development really unviable in the U.S., we optimized the site. We purchased some air rights on the site, so that meant it was development-ready, it made sure we could optimize it for a sale, which obviously we did and that transacted last week.

The proceeds of this will be used to repay the debt on the site. However, the additional proceeds will be used in our geographical regions.

Along this, we also have numerous land pipeline within the U.K. You can see we're aware we have Westminster Bridge Road, our development on the A40, and on Leman Street, as well as potential to develop our existing assets in our portfolio.

Our future focus in the near term is very much going to be launching our 5,000 square meters of office space at the art'otel Hoxton. That will be One Rivington, our coworking concept, that's due to open in mid-November and is currently being marketed to prospective tenants.

As always, we will always continue to focus on cost efficiency, operational improvement. We are also doing a significant amount of technological transformation in our front of house operations, including the introduction of kiosks across our portfolio.

We will continue to focus on those efficiencies as we go forward. Moving on to the next slide, I think it is poignant just to touch on this following the completion of a strategic review period.

In November 2023, the board announced that it was undertaking a strategic review to consider a number of options to maximize value for all shareholders. Subsequently, in May 2024, an indicative proposal regarding a possible cash offer was received from Fattal Hotel Group at £22 per share.

The board evaluated the proposal with its independent advisor and sought feedback through a consultation process from a significant proportion portion of our shareholder base. During this consultation, Euro Plaza Holdings, the company's largest shareholder, withdrew its support from the offer of Fattal.

Consequently, Fattal determined it would not proceed with any further further context of the strategic review, and it concluded in July 2024. Despite this fact, the strategic review did not result in a firm offer for our shareholders, it did, however, facilitate significant deeper discussions around the future strategy of the group.

This has resulted in the board concluding a shareholder value, so this resulted in how the board could conclude and how it would deliver shareholder value for the future and how this can be maximized for clear operational delivery and balance sheet simplification going forward. With that in mind, we are putting all of those findings into a proposal to see how we move forward as a company in due course.

Moving on to that, I'll hand over with Daniel with the results of the first half. Daniel?

Thank you, Greg. As Greg already said, we are quite pleased with the good performance for the first 6 months of of the year, which reported solid growth across all key metrics.

The The achievement is is realized despite the geopolitical environment that the group currently trades in. Total revenue on a like-for-like basis was up 4.7% to £208 million, which resulted in a like-for-like EBITDA growth of 8% to £49 million.

That represented a margin expansion of 50 basis points, reporting a 23.5% margin in the first 6 months. As usual, as usual, our operations are quite seasonal and the majority of the group's EBITDA and margin is realized in the second half.

That's mainly due to the seasonal effects of our Croatian leisure portfolio that's really ramping up in the high season in July and in August. Total revenue increased really on the back of a solid meeting and events revenue growth in the U.K., particularly in the first quarter, I would say, but also due to our like-for-like average RevPAR growth of 3.1%.

That RevPAR growth increased on the back of a like-for-like room rate increase of 3.2% and occupancy stable at 72.5. Our increased EBITDA performance was offset by higher interest costs after the refinances that we've done in the last 12 months.

Therefore, our 12-months rolling EPRA earnings stayed flat at £53 million, or £1.25 per share. Based on these earnings, the group proposes to pay an interim dividend of 17 pence per share, which is in line with last year.

In terms of total revenue, diving a bit deeper in the in the regions, because it's quite quite different across the regions, so as you can see on the slide, the United Kingdom has clearly been the main driver behind our growth with a total revenue growth of 6.8% and a RevPAR growth of 5.2%. While the ramp-up of Hoxton is obviously supporting this growth, in general, we had quite a strong period in the U.K.

Particularly, the first quarter was very strong with us, with some very large-scale meeting and events taking place in the usual slower month of January. Total revenue growth in the first quarter in the U.K.

was 8.8%, with the second quarter showing a solid growth of 5%. As you might all be aware, the Netherlands started the year with a substantial fiscal headwind, as the government increased the VAT from 9% to 21% on hotel bedrooms.

As the majority of our pricing publicly is inclusive of VAT, this would have resulted in a 12% negative impact on room rates. I'm therefore quite pleased to say that we have managed to mitigate the total revenue decline in the Netherlands to 5.3% in local currency and 2.4% in sterling, instead of the 12% that was expected.

This drop came mainly on the back of occupancy at this point and only a drop of 3.4% in local currency in room rates. Croatia was shut for the majority of the part of the first 6 months, and the performance isn't really reflective of a normal trade in the 6 months.

Germany, on a like-for-like basis, reported a year-on-year flat revenue and 2.9% growth in sterling terms. With regards to the EBITDA growth of 8%, the U.K.

was again the main driver with both EBITDA growth and margin expansion. This growth was this achieved despite of the higher business rates that are taking effect from the second quarter onwards and will increase up to and including 2028.

In the Netherlands, the expected EBITDA drop amounted to £1.3 million, which in low what which in local currency is largely similar to the top-line revenue loss we had on the back of the VAT change we've just discussed. Anything lost in the top converts 100% to the bottom, unfortunately.

However, we continue to ramp up our newly opened properties and further roll out automation and operational efficiency programs to mitigate the effect of these fiscal headwinds. In terms of adjusted EPRA earnings, the rolling 12 months stayed flat with December at 20 at £53 million, which is £1.25 per share.

As you can see, earnings were positively impacted by the increased EBITDA levels, but offset with higher interest rate expenses after the substantial refinances we've done in the last 12 months. Free cash flow for the rolling 12 months amounted to £76 million and has been largely used to pay dividends of £17 million, bank loan repayments of £26 million, and ROI CapEx, which included, for instance, three freehold acquisitions.

One was the Leman Street acquisition in the city, the other was the freehold acquisition of the Park Plaza Park Royal, and the last one was the buyback of the freehold in the Park Plaza Waterloo, which I will detail later on. Net debt increased from £775 million at year-end to £932 million at the end of 30 June, which is an increase of £157 million, largely caused by the buyback of the freehold in Park Plaza Waterloo.

The new bank loan that we took to fund this acquisition has been signed with Banca Popolare and has a 5-year maturity. The loan has a loan-to-value of 70% at acquisition date, which will be amortized further in the coming 5 years to a loan-to-value of 65%.

90% of this loan is fixed for 2 years at an all-in interest rate of 5.9%. After this transaction, the average group loan-to-value increased to 39.5% from 35% before, which we feel is still acceptable levels.

The majority of our loans have now been refinanced, and the average maturity have been extended to 4.4 years, with an average cost of debt of 4.4%. In terms of the Waterloo transaction, we had quite a substantial transaction here, whereby we bought back the freehold interest of the Park Plaza Waterloo for £148 million, and inclusive of purchase expense at £156 million.

To explain the rationale behind this transaction is probably best if we go back to 2017, when we initially sold the land and leased it back for 200 years. This transaction was shortly done after we had built and opened the hotel in the summer of 2017.

We had an all-in cost of construction of £125 million and were able to sell the asset for £161 million under a 200-year leaseback at 3.2 cap rate. The sale and leaseback, the 3.2 cap, amounted to a rent of £5.6 million back in the day when we did this, and this is inflation-adjusted going forward.

It left the hotel with the remaining EBITDA post-rent of £5 million. This remaining EBITDA post-rent is valued as a leasehold value at £80 million back in the day.

This transaction, it really made sense for us back in the day. It enabled us to get more cash out than we had spent on building the hotel, and it remained us with an asset valued at £80 million.

The £161 million of cash, it was used to pay a special dividend back in the day, and the rest was recycled back in the group to fund growth. Our underwriting back then expected that EBITDA would grow at a similar pace as the inflationary adjustments on the rent.

This was based on experiences we had in the 10 years preceding to this deal. However, COVID, labor shortages due to the Brexit, energy cost increases, national insurance increases, and business rate increases made that our EBITDA did not grow at the similar pace as the rent adjustment.

Really the rent was eroding the EBITDA over time. With this acquisition, we stopped the EBITDA erosion.

The freehold was bought back at £13 million lower than we did the initial deal in 2017, at a cap rate of 4.9%. When we bought back this lease, the rent increased from the £5.6 million back in the day to £7.3 million at acquisition date.

After this transaction, the free cash flow of the group will remain at similar levels, slightly lower at the start due to the high base interest rates. However, on the long run, this will improve with annual interest expenses expected to decline, expected to decline because we are amortizing the loan, and if the interest rates in the future go down further, we will benefit from that.

That's opposed to a rent that was going to increase 4% on an annual basis. This transaction led to a a large simplification of our balance sheet, de-risking the impact it had on EBITDA erosion, and holding the freehold will create more optionality with the future with this with this asset.

Handing back to you for current trading and outlook, Greg.

Thank you, Daniel. I'm pleased to report summer trading in the city locations is comparable to the similar trends we've observed in half one.

We actually see these mostly improving in as half two continues. U.K.

properties also continue to perform strongly, with a gradual improvement in momentum seen in the Croatian region through the summer season. As we've already alluded to, we have a clear focus on operational delivery alongside future balance sheet simplification as we go forward into the second half.

Most of all, trading is in line with the consensus of the expectations for full-year 2024, despite the headwinds which we are seeing in the regions. I think with that in mind, let's go to some Q&A, Robert.

Thank you. Probably one for you, Daniel.

We've received a number of questions around the largest shareholder, Euro Plaza, rejecting the Fattal offer that was that was proposed. Can you give some more context perhaps as to the rationale or the reason for?

Obviously, I see that the two questions raised here are around the decision of our largest shareholder to oppose this this transaction. As Greg already alluded to, we had a £22 offer from Fattal, which the majority of the substantial amount of shareholders we consulted supported.

Also, the board supported it as being fair value. However, Euro Plaza has decided to not support this.

With the acceptance conditions that Fattal had later placed in their offer, the offer was not deliverable. We can unfortunately not detail the reasoning or go into details of the reasons why the objection was.

We cannot comment on somebody on the share on the so the largest shareholder basis at this point.

Thank you. Greg, one for you.

There's a There's a question around the development sites. You've you've obviously touched on this slightly.

What do you see as sort of the the next stage in in all of these projects?

The pipeline.

The pipeline, yeah.

Currently, at the moment, there is no getting around the economic headwinds and the government support we are actually seeing in the hospitality sector, specifically in the U.K., is a a difficult one. I think, ultimately, we obviously want to make sure we deliver the best value we can for our shareholders.

With that in mind, and I think it's no secret, we will make sure that we look at all of our land bank considerably before implementation in any developments at the U.K. I think as what you can see at the moment, we have paused it slightly whilst we are one, got through the strategic review process, and two, then assessing what the future economical rhythm looks like in the U.K.

before we continue. I think with that in mind, we are still ongoing reviewing this pipeline.

At the moment, we are not pushing forward or the button on the development at its current point. We will make sure, as I've already said previously, we will make sure we make the right decision going forward for the shareholders.

Watch this space on that one.

Right, thank you. You've covered a lot of different angles, including the the pressure you're seeing in the U.K.

marketplace, specifically for probably new builds and operations.

It doesn't matter if it's government business rate pressure, national insurance rate pressure, employee law pressure, just operating the business in general is becoming more and more complex in the U.K. Not to mention all of the supply chain issues we currently see, especially also development challenges with bringing land sites to a optimum return on investment post-opening.

I think I don't think I can get any clearer than that as a business. I've said it quite formally on record and publicly, the U.K.

is a challenging market to deliver future value for shareholders.

Very clear. There's a question around occupancy and rate with occupancy sort of holding almost holding, whereas adds of opportunity and strategy.

I'll I'll answer this, to be honest. We are in a beautiful business that allows us to alternate between driving occupancy and rate.

It depends on on the market conditions and the performance of the the hotel. Where we are currently is obviously, we've been we've been driving both occupancy and rate as much as we could.

Despite the macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds, we've been able to maintain largely occupancies. We We assess each hotel individually and see where the opportunity is.

In Rome, for example, we have an opportunity to improve our occupancy and continue to drive the rate strategy that we set out. This is obviously a flagship hotel in a new market for us.

In the more established hotels, we will really try and and focus on driving the rates as much as we can as the market allows us, depending on on a local competitor set and the dynamics into each of our areas. We are running very busy hotels, it's always in our benefit and interest to drive more rate where we possibly can.

In Holland, as Daniel said, we've had significant impact of the the VAT, and not just we, but that's the industry as a whole. There's only so much you can drive the rates, but it's always our intention where we can to drive rate because that's more profitable for us.

At the same time, if that opportunity isn't there, we'll we'll go off of the occupancy.

I think we've also in terms of the opportunities in occupancy have been further benefited with actually the movement of Dubai isn't as strong as it is year on year. Certain parts of Turkey and Greece is actually pushing European travel trends more to Central Europe, which then is actually moving European travel into our markets.

I think it doesn't matter if it's Croatia, Amsterdam, or Germany, the slightly stronger occupancy or the opportunities to yield on occupancy are beneficial currently from that factor.

That sort of concludes the the questions. Jake, I think it's over to you for the poll.

Perfect, guys. If I may just jump back in there, and thank you very much indeed for your presentation and for addressing those questions that came in from investors.

Of course, if there are any further questions that do come through, we'll make these available to you immediately after the presentation has ended. Greg, perhaps before really now just looking to redirect those on the call to provide with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to yourself and the company, if I could please just ask you for a few closing comments just to wrap up with, that'd be great.

Absolutely. Thanks very much.

Listen, I think from from our our aspect and where we're going, the group is in a solid performance. It does have very good solid opportunities to grow the business.

We have got maturing assets still coming through our current portfolio, especially coming from Hoxton, especially as we've now start launching our coworking, and actually our markets in the U.K. are very strong.

Notwithstanding, this process which we have just completed gave us some valuable insights. Those insights have informed the business of where we can create future value for all shareholders, and we look forward to reviewing that and potentially implementing it in the future.

With that in mind, thank you support for your support, and I'll look forward to seeing you next year. Thank you.

Perfect, Greg. That's great.

Thank you all once again for updating investors this morning. Could I please ask investors not to close this session, as you'll now be automatically redirected for the opportunity to provide your feedback.

On behalf of the management team, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation. That now concludes today's session, good afternoon to you all.