Rogers and its partners already invested Rs 8 billion in the IRS/hotels/golf of Bel Ombre project. The CEO militates for the creation of a regional shipping company and the port’s development.
What is your statement for the year 2009?
In the actual framework, the year 2009 has been a good year. We were surprised like everyone to witness the issues scope. The operating conditions were difficult but we maintained all our engagements and development axes. We are satisfied to be achieving the second year of our three-year strategic plan (October 2007 to September 2010) by having accomplished the totality of what we were aiming for. Regarding the amounts, if we take a look at the 2007-2008 exercise, there is an exceptional result i.e. the sales of two of our hotels for more than a billion of rupees. Rs 120 million on the Domaine de Bel Ombre and supplementary Rs 50 million for other costs. By removing the impact of the Telfair acquisition during the year, we are ending 2008-2009 with a Rs 633 million profit compared to last year’s Rs 890 million. Hence, we succeeded into keeping a worthy performance for the whole of our operations, which gives Rs 652 million as net profit. The Rogers earnings per share shows a decrease of 29% and the net asset per share increased from Rs 354 to Rs371.
What are your projects for this year?
We are concentrating our energy on the development of a new living space in Bel Ombre. The development of this new space required a funding of Rs 8 billion between 2004 and 2010. This represents the bigger individual financing of the private sector for the ten previous years. We are not only building a supplementary hotel or some houses. With our partners, we are developing a whole zone of the country. We took the engagement to create a plethora of services and economic activities with considerable positive consequences for the region. Despite the crisis, we were able to maintain the totality of our investment programs. We are gradually revealing the assets of this unique space which unites the conditions for traditional hotels with a complementary nature. The whole services panoply will be revealed as from October 2010 to Mauritians as well as visitors. We are convinced of the strong potential of the region and of our initiatives’ success. This planned development is made in the context of the group’s strategy on a period of five to 10 years.
How well is the group’s hospitality branch?
On the hotel pole, we went from a profit of 252 million to a 97 million loss. This negative result is mainly explained by the bad performances of the Heritage hotels. In fact, we nevertheless noticed a good performance from our four three-star hotels which registered better performances than in 2008-2009 than in the preceding exercise. We notice contrasted results in the hotel industry. The three and four-star hotels are on the safe side while the high class hotels are awaiting the global recovery. Mauritius is positioned with quality products in all categories but regarding the high-class, we are temporarily suffering and furthermore when we are aware that Mauritius encountered a high capacity growth in the five-star hotel segment.
What have been the currency impacts?
The year’s results have clearly been boosted by a competitive rupee and a rate’s decrease. However, we suffered from the pound sterling decrease which gathers the English market’s interest. The rupee appreciation since the month of September shall affect us if the currency keeps the pace against the major currencies.
What happened to aviation ?
On the local plan, the air traffic remained tensed but the promotional offers helped to sustain the market. Throughout the year, we registered a decrease of 15% for the local market. Despite, on the regional market, the numbers remain positive. On the worldwide framework, economic gloom prevails as we are awaiting a decline of 7% on the traveling market and loss amounting 11 billion dollars for the whole set of airlines. Thus, all the intermediaries are under pressure. For our part, we set-up an effective team, which allowed us to boost our Travel and Aviation pole results thanks to market shares’ gains and productivity.
Why did you merge logistic and shipping?
We wanted to consolidate our positions in enterprises where we were in minority or in partnership. Furthermore, we needed to compile our competences. We finalized the restructuration with the launching of a new brand: Velogic. It consists of a development which inserts itself in the long time. For the moment, the operating conditions remain difficult. The regional and worldwide traffic decreased. Yet, Rogers is positioned in Madagascar, in Mozambique, in India and in France. In Mauritius, the transshipment encountered a decline of 40%. However we are witnessing an amelioration in terms of volume and prices on an international basis, knowing that the maritime traffic is picking up quicker that the air traffic.
Are you an advocate of a regional maritime company’s creation?
Yes. It will be interesting for Mauritius which is already a turning point for the area. We will need to associate Mauritian actors and international professionals. Firstly, we need to find a strategic partner of a sustained development. To succeed in front of international competitors, it is important to federate and to unite the local capacities around a common vision for the country.
How did your real estate funds behave?
Introduced to the stock exchange in December 2009, the Ascencia real-estate fund has known an effective year. This fund detained by a hundred of shareholders, represents 1, 4 billion of rupees. The profits attained 138 millions of rupees and the profit after tax is of 128 million of rupees, including 85 million of rupees of gains on re-evaluation. The output attains 7, 6 % for this first year for an 8% target at mid-term. For the moment, the funds will be oriented on the existing real-estate park. However, 20% of its value will be allocated to new developments.
