Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG.L) Tuesday reported profit before tax of $472 million for the first half, 16.8 percent lower than $567 million in the comparable period last year. This was mainly due to System Fund and reimbursables loss of $10 million compared with $87 million profit a year ago, as a result of planned reduction of prior System Fund surplus.
Operating profit declined 10.1 percent to $525 million from $584 million a year ago.
Net profit decreased to $347 million or 210.4 cents per share from $459 million or 263.8 cents per share last year.
Adjusted earnings, however, rose to $333 million or 203.9 cents per share from $316 million or 182.7 cents per share a year ago.
Revenue for the period grew 4.3 percent to $2.322 billion from $2.226 billion in the previous year.
RevPAR improved 3 percent in the first half, reflecting the continued strength in travel demand.
The Board has declared an interim dividend of 53.2 cents per share, a growth of 10 percent form last year, to be paid on October 3, to shareholders of record on August 30.
"After growth of +7% in Q1, a very busy Q2 saw +23% more signings year-on-year or a more than doubling when including NOVUM, and this keeps us on track for net system size growth expectations," said Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer.
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