Patricia Damerval, deputy director-general of the Finances of Pierre et Vacances, Paris, November 24, 2016. (Photo ERIC PIERMONT. AFP)
The additional costs due to delays in the project Villages Nature, a huge tourism complex that just opened near Disneyland Paris, have leaded to the annual accounts of the group Pierre et Vacances, which evokes an effect “timely and exceptional”.
It is on a net loss of 56.7 million euros, against 7.5 million a year earlier, the group that owns brand names Pierre & Vacances, Adagio and Center Parcs, was completed in September its non-calendar fiscal year.
“This is a one-off effect and exceptional, in terms of occurrence and amount,” said Patricia Damerval, deputy director-general of Finance.
Villages Nature, which claims to be the first eco-tourism destination in Europe, has been co-developed by Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs and Euro Disney group, for an initial investment of approximately 360 million euros.
Designed as a city plant around a lagoon open to the sky, this village-holiday giant, which opened in September and offers almost 900 cottages for weekends or holidays. A second phase of development includes the construction of 250 cottages additional.
Because of”design errors and passages of the market”, the construction site, “which was to be initially delivered in April 2016”, has suffered delays and has generated “a lengthening of the duration” of work and “a lot of additional costs”, stressed Mrs. Damerval.
But “bookings for Villages Nature will work very well, especially with foreign customers. And when we have reached a cruising speed, within five years, the site should we bring in 75 million euros of turnover”, she assured.
– Succession –
Excluding Villages Nature and excluding the impact of the repayment of convertible bond-type convertible bond (issued in 2014), the group would have posted a net profit of more than 8 million euros, its first year in the green for five years, said Patricia Damerval.
In total, the group’s current operating income rose 53%, to 49.7 million euros excluding Villages Nature. Once this effect is taken into account, it plunges into the red 37.3 million.
The annual sales are displayed for their part in the progression of 5.8%, to 1.5 billion euros, thanks mainly to the good performance of the rentals in all tourist destinations.
Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs does not give prospects figures for its new fiscal year, but the state reservations “reinforces an objective of growth of tourist activities on a comparable basis”, according to the group.
On Tuesday evening, the group had also announced that its founder and CEO, Gérard Brémond, 80 years of age, had initiated the process of appointment to the post of director-general of son, Olivier Brémond, 55 years old. If the board of directors gives its consent to this proposal, Olivier Brémond alongside his father starting in September.
“This is good news, which offers a good perspective” for the group, said Wednesday Gérard Brémond in front of journalists. “He (Olivier Brémond) does not by duty, he is enthusiastic. We are going to do a duet very interesting and the idea is not that I am stepping on the Aventine”, he stressed.
Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs, europe’s number-one of the residences of leisure, which has just celebrated its 50 years, recalls that the “family control” of the group has been “maintained after its listing on the Paris stock Exchange”. In 2015, it has formed a strategic partnership with the chinese giant HNA, who entered the capital of the French group of up to 10%.
