OREANDA-NEWS. Orascom Development Holding (ODH) revenues increased by 22.2% to CHF 306.1 million compared to CHF 250.5 million in FY 2014. The increase in revenues was mainly driven by the positive contribution of the Group's largest subsidiary, Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD), the new hotel opening in Oman and the delivery of the first 10 apartment buildings in Montenegro.

Adjusted EBITDA, increased by 228.5% to reach CHF 80.8 million compared to CHF 24.6 million in FY 2014 mainly because of the high margins associated with the land sub-development agreements. During 2015, we signed two new sub-development agreements to sub-develop 110,196 m2 of land in El Gouna for a total value of USD 22.0 million.

The net losses attributable to the shareholders of the company reached CHF 19.0 million, The main contributors to the bottom-line losses include: (i) the increase in ODH's share of losses from Andermatt Swiss Alps (ASA) and Orascom Housing Communities (OHC), the Group's largest associate (non-consolidated) companies; (ii) the decrease in the profitability of the hotel's segment in Egypt as a result of the continued travel bans on Taba and the negative consequences of the plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula. (iii) prudence-related additional one-time provisions (iv) and foreign exchange losses due to weakening of the CHF and the devaluation of the EGP.

Real Estate: Sales witnessed an increase of 21.3% over the same period last year reaching CHF 106.3 million compared to CHF 87.6 million in FY 2014.

The boost was mainly driven by the significant increase in El Gouna sales reaching CHF 82.9 million in FY 2015 compared to CHF 48.7 million in FY 2014. In 2015, 4 new diversified projects in El Gouna with a total sellable inventory of USD 93.4 mn, were successfully launched.

Controlling construction costs and speeding up its progress continues to be our focuses of the year, which will allow earlier recognition of revenues and earlier cash collection of the 10% client delivery payment. We are planning to deliver Joubal lagoon project in El Gouna, launched back in November 2014, during Q2 2016, 6 months ahead of schedule.

We have reached 75% of construction for the Byoum hotel in Fayoum, and expecting the opening to be around Q3 2016.

Ongoing efforts were taken in developing our Omani destinations, adding to the destinations' livelihood to ultimately drive up real estate sales. We handed over 29 real estate units in Sifah and Salalah, finalizing the construction of the 9 holes golf course and working on a new marketing and positioning campaign for Salalah and Sifah.

Demand for our Lustica Bay, Montenegro destination has continued to see pickup and the project has attracted a host of global buyers. 2015 witnessed the completion of Lustica's first 10 apartment buildings in the Marina Village, welcoming Lustica's first residents and commencing the first operational summer season.

Real Estate segment revenue reached CHF 66.4 million vs. CHF 72.9 million in FY 2014. Total deferred revenue from real estate that is yet to be recognized until 2018 reached CHF 147.0 million in FY 2015 compared to CHF 151.0 million in FY 2014.

Hotels: Completed the 700-room phase I of our hotel development plan in Oman, with segment revenues increasing by 4.5% to reach CHF 124.2 million (FY 2014: CHF 118.9 million), yet bottom-line results were negatively impacted by the plane crash in Egypt during Q4 2015.

In Egypt, the optimization strategies that we applied in 2014 across our hotel portfolio, and the relatively strong performance of the first 9 months, contributed to a successful operation of the segment up until September 2015. Those strategies helped us close the year positively and limited the magnitude of the challenges that the world's tourism sector has witnessed in 2015 especially after the Russian aircraft incident that took place in October and the shootings that took place in Paris in November 2015. El Gouna continued to benefit from its safe haven and has been outperforming its competitors, closing the year at an occupancy of 68% compared to 60% in 2014. Makadi, operated at 30% of its capacity, after closing down 2 out of the 3 hotels we own. In Taba, we took some drastic measures to stop the bleeding of the destination and have shut down 5 out of the 6 hotels, only keeping the Sofitel hotel open (442 rooms).

Our hotels in Oman witnessed a notable year-on-year growth. Occupancy grew from 33% to 51% and GOP PAR grew from CHF 3 to CHF 18. Salalah Beach, marked the completion of the 700-room phase one milestone of our Omani hotel development plan with the opening of Al Fanar Hotel & Residence, a 218-room, four star hotel. The hotel had its soft launch mid December 2015 with an occupancy of 46% and is now running at an average occupancy of 81% in Q1 2016. Oman is now home to 767 rooms representing 10% of the total Group's inventory.

In the UAE, the cut in the number of rooms affected the reported figures. 14% of the total Cove hotel inventory, was used as a housing facility for the Hotel's senior staff in replacement of the Housing Complex that was being renovated to serve as an extension for the Hotel. The new Housing facility was re-opened in November 2015.

Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was within the same range of last year, reaching CHF 18.1 million compared to CHF 18.2 million in FY 2014. However, the segment's profitability was still negatively affected by the ongoing bans in Taba Heights along with the airplane crash incident. The net losses generated from Taba Heights hotels alone amounted to CHF 10.7 million.

Subsequent events

The Board of Directors of Orascom Development Holding AG (Orascom Development, ODH) has signed a six year advisory agreement with Accelero Capital Management Company Limited ("Accelero Capital") whereby Accelero Capital will provide advisory services to assist ODH in implementing an operational and financial turn-around under the guidance of the Board of Directors and management of ODH. The Board of Directors also announced that it has appointed Mr. Khaled Bichara as the new CEO effective 1 January 2016.

About Orascom Development Holding AG
Orascom Development is a leading developer of fully integrated destinations that include hotels, private villas and apartments, leisure facilities such as golf courses, marinas and supporting infrastructure. Orascom Development's diversified portfolio of destinations is spread over eight jurisdictions (Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Oman, Switzerland, Morocco, Montenegro and United Kingdom), with a primary focus on touristic destinations. The Group currently operates eight destinations; four in Egypt El Gouna, Taba Heights, Makadi and Haram City, The Cove in United Arab Emirates, Jebel Sifah and Salalah Beach in Oman, and Andermatt in Switzerland. Orascom Development has a dual listing, with a primary listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange and a secondary listing on the EGX Egyptian Exchange.