Excellent tourist season brings good news for investors.
Another successful tourist season has been felt at the Zagreb Stock Exchange, particularly with regards to tourist companies. Since early June, travel index CROBEXturist has increased 18.6 percent, reports tportal.hr on August 25, 2016.
The positive expectations of investors are based on the announced tourism results, with five million overnight stays more than last year by the end of July. Excellent results have continued in August as well, so analysts expect full-year growth rates of around 7 percent and record income, which should for the first time exceed eight billion euros. This year, 40 new or renovated hotels have been opened, and another 50 are expected to be opened before the next tourist season.
The brightest star at the stock exchange is Valamar Riviera, whose value has increased nearly 20 percent since early June. The successful tourism project created by a group of Austrian shareholders has been recognized by investors, and the shares of Valamar have become one of the most liquid stocks at the Zagreb Stock Exchange. Investors were encouraged by the semi-annual results of the company, excellent booking in high season and ambitious development plans. The company recently introduced a new development strategy, with investments of between 1.5 and 2 billion kuna.
In late July the state accepted Valamar’s offer to buy a majority stake at Imperial Hotels from Rab, and this week the company announced an investment of 500 million kuna in the construction of two luxury resorts in Rabac. Thanks to the sale of state shares, Imperial Hotels has proven to be the best investment opportunity. Investors who bought its shares before July earned more than 40 percent of the invested capital. Imperial is the most important hotel company on the island of Rab and has more than 7,500 beds.
Among winners is Arenaturist whose shares from early June gained 24.2 percent in value. Although the tourism company from Pula in the first six months increased losses compared to the same period last year, preliminary data for the third quarter is encouraging.
Maistra has recorded somewhat lower growth in share prices. In the first six months of this year, Maistra had three percent fewer overnight stays than in the first half of last year, but with an increase in average room price of eight percent. Total investments in 2016 are estimated at over 400 million kuna, and in the next three-year period Adris, which is the owner of Maistra, will invest 1.6 billion kuna in the tourism part of its business. At the end of last week, they opened a new family hotel Amarin. This was the largest investment this year in the Istrian tourism worth 300 million kuna.
Value of shares of Sunčani Hvar has not changed much during this period. In the first half of the year, Sunčani Hvar increased revenues by 9 percent. However, due to increased financial expenses the company recorded a loss of 11.7 million kuna. After a long break, Hvar has started another investment cycle with the opening of the renovated Pharos Hotel, with the investment worth more than 55 million kuna.
