Hilton Hotels is considering selling off all or part of the 130-strong Scandic Hotel group in Scandinavia.
A sale is one of a number of “strategic alternatives” Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC)
is exploring for the chain it acquired when it bought Hilton International in January.
Scandic was founded in Sweden in 1963 and purchased by Hilton International (HI), then a UK-owned company, in 2001.
Its 130 properties are based in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. There are 120 leased properties in the group, six which are franchised, three managed and one owned.
HHC said HI, now a fully owned subsidiary, was also planning to sell off ten properties in Europe in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland.
HI is also evaluating the sale of what HHC said was "a number" of other properties outside the United States.
Robert La Forgia, HHC's chief financial officer, said the aim on "asset sales" was to "support our stated strategy of generating a higher proportion of future earnings from managing and franchising hotels and less from hotel ownership."
He added: "Any future sale of assets is a continuation of a process that began in early 2005. Since that time, HHC has sold over $1.3 billion in assets, and HI about $700 million."
HHC said no timetable had yet been fixed for any sales.
Worldspan reports rise in net income
GDS Worldspan said its turnover rose in the second quarter of 2006 to $251.7m compared to $245.6m fro the same period in 2005.
The increase gave the GDS a net income for the six months of $29.5m compared with $18.5m fro 2005.
The company said its financial results benefited from an increase of 10.5m from a "contractual payment that was received from a certain former online travel agency in final settlement of a dispute."
Rakesh Gangwal, chairman, president and ceo of Worldspan, said: "We are pleased that our ongoing cost reduction strategies continue to have a positive impact on our bottom-line results."
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