By Anthony O. Goriainoff
InterContinental Hotels Group said first-half net profit and revenue increased, driven by improved trading conditions, but that it expects the comparatives to 2022 in the second half to get tougher due to continuing economic uncertainties.
The London-listed hotel chain said Tuesday that net profit was $459 million, compared with $216 million for the first half of 2022.
Pretax profit for the period was $567 million compared with $299 million, while revenue rose to $2.23 billion from $1.79 billion.
Revenue per available room, or RevPar–an important industry metric–was up 24% year-on-year, with RevPar in EMEA and Asia up 42% and up 94% for greater China. The company said this reflected the differing levels of travel restrictions which were still in place in the first half of 2022.
Occupancy levels were up 9 percentage points versus 2022 and 1.3 percentage points lower than in 2019, before the pandemic.
The board declared an interim dividend of 48.3 cents a share compared with 43.9 cents.
“We expect RevPar to remain positive year-on-year in each region. Irrespective of any shorter-term macro pressures… we remain confident about the tailwinds for attractive long‑term growth in RevPAR which drives our fee income,” it said.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com
