InterContinental Reports Soaring Annual Net Profit
InterContinental Hotels Group said on Tuesday that annual profits jumped by almost a fifth, aided by strong expansion in China and the United States, and added it would press head with the sale of two key hotels.
Earnings after taxation rallied 18.2 percent to $544 million (407 million euros) in 2012, compared with $460 million in 2011, IHG said in a results statement.
The company, the world's largest hotels operator by number of rooms, owning the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn chains, also said that revenues grew by 4.0 percent to $1.835 billion.
The London-listed company added that it had begun the sale process for InterContinental London Park Lane and would continue with the sale of the New York Barclay.
The group had already signalled in August that it would seek to return $1.0 billion to shareholders as a result of its ongoing strategy of selling key assets.
InterContinental also raised its annual shareholder dividend by 16 percent to 64 cents per share on Tuesday.
"IHG's proven strategy and resilient business model position us for further good performance in 2013, despite the challenging economic environment," added chief executive Richard Solomons in the earnings release.
"The 16-percent increase in our dividend demonstrates the confidence we have in our ability to deliver sustained high quality growth."
InterContinental added that global revenue per available room (RevPAR) -- a key industry measure -- rose by 5.2 percent last year, led by 6.3-percent growth in the United States and 5.4-percent growth in Greater China.
RevPAR is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 675,000 rooms in more than 4,600 hotels across the world, with operations in almost 100 countries and territories.
Source: Agence France Presse
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