Minor International Pcl. (SET: MINT), one of the world’s largest hospitality and leisure companies, is pleased to announce that its key subsidiary, NH Hotel Group S.A (NH), has received an upgrade of corporate family rating, default rating and its senior secured notes instrument rating from Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s). These upgrades reflect the better-than-expected improvement in NH’s key credit metrics, as well as its improving financial performance and credit profile.
MINT’s short- to medium-term strategy involved a series of initiatives aimed at growing the group’s sales and profitability. These initiatives included demand-driven RevPar increase and pro-active cost efficiency improvement. Recent strong results of NH, the largest revenue and profit contributor of MINT, prompted Moody’s to upgrade NH’s corporate family rating to B2 from B3, the probability of default rating to B2-PD from Caa1-PD and the instrument rating of NH’s €400 million senior secured notes due 2026 to B1 from B2. The outlook remains stable.
In 2022, NH’s Revenue per Available Room (RevPar) increased significantly beyond the credit rating agency’s expectations, whilst its profitability is almost back to pre-pandemic 2019 level with stronger margin. Moreover, NH has significantly curtailed its debt level. The Stable Outlook reflects the agency’s expectation that NH will maintain robust profitability margin despite inflationary pressure and increasing interest rates, while liquidity remains ample.
MINT and NH have demonstrated resilience and solid business rebound post- COVID-19 pandemic, adapting quickly to the challenging operating environment and capturing leisure and business travel demand, while implementing cost-saving measures to protect margin and preserve liquidity.
“MINT’s strategy has been focused on driving our financial performance and strengthening our balance sheet,” said Chaiyapat Paitoon, CFO of Minor International. “We are delighted to see NH’s credit rating upgraded, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team in Europe. MINT and NH will continue to validate our strategy by creating further synergy and enhancing our sustainable and resilient business platform for the group.”
