Aevis Victoria intends to take advantage of acquisition opportunities

The luxury hotel and clinic group Aevis Victoria SA grew significantly in the first quarter of 2020, with sales increasing to CHF 194.8 million, up 9.9% year-on-year (2019: 177.3 million). The growth came from the acquisitions of the private clinic Belair (consolidated since October 1, 2019), the Hotels Mont Cervin Palace and Monte Rosa (consolidated since November 1, 2019) and the Hotel Intercontinental in Davos (consolidated since January 1, 2020).

Net sales (excluding physician fees) amounted to 171.6 million, 11.5% more than in 2019 (153.9 million). The private hospital group Swiss Medical Network, the main holding of Aevis Victoria, reported a slight decrease in net sales of 152.3 million in the first quarter of 2020 (2019: 159.6 million), triggered by the ban on non-urgent medical procedures issued by the Federal Council on March 20, 2020. In the first two months of the reporting year, activities were still steadily increasing. Sales in the Hospitality segment increased to 38.3 million (2019: 12.5 million) due to acquisitions.

Aevis Victoria intends to repay the outstanding CHF 55 million bond on June 29, 2020, using existing liquidity and credit lines. If the situation normalizes, the Group does not rule out accessing the financial markets in the second quarter of 2020 to finance further growth and take advantage of acquisition opportunities that arise in this difficult period. Isolated players will have to rely even more on diversified groups to weather the crisis, and consolidation is expected to accelerate further across Aevis Victoria's three investment sectors. (bw)