Intercontinental Hotels Group has seen its pre-tax profits rise by 65.6 per cent to $462 million for the first six months of 2013.
The group, which owns brands such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo, was boosted by a 3.7 per cent rise in revpar which helped overall revenue increase by 6.6 per cent to $936 million.
IHG has been boosted by a strong performance from properties in the Americas region where revenue grew by 14.3 per cent to $457 million for the half-year. Revpar was up by 4.5 per cent in the region including a 4.5 per cent rise in the US.
Meanwhile European revenue was flat at $206 million, although trading was described as “resilient” in key markets such as the UK where revpar rose by 1.6 per cent year-on-year. Revpar also increased in Germany by 1.1 per cent and France by 4 per cent.
Richard Solomons, IHG’s chief executive, said: “Our global scale has allowed us to reinvest in the business whilst growing margins, resulting in solid underlying profit gains led by our Americas region, and strong cash flows.
“We continue to strengthen our foundation for future growth, signing more than 200 hotels into our pipeline, a notable increase on the first half of 2012, reflecting our owners’ confidence in both IHG and the industry demand drivers.
IHG has also announced a special dividend of $350 million which will be paid to shareholders.
ihg.com