InterContinental Hotels Q1 Comparable RevPAR Rises

(RTTNews) - InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG.L, IHG) reported Friday that its first-quarter comparable revenue per available room or RevPAR grew 5.9 percent, driven by rate increase of 3.4 percent and growth in all four regions.

Richard Solomons, chief executive, said, "We have made a strong start to the year... We achieved our highest first quarter for hotel signings in seven years, and openings in five years, demonstrating the continued momentum behind both our established and new brands…With our current trading performance and the strong momentum behind our brands we remain confident that our winning strategy will continue to deliver sustainable high quality growth."

In Americas, RevPAR was up 6.2 percent, with 6.6 percent growth in the US and 8.8 percent in Mexico, partially offset by softer trading in Canada and Latin America. The company said the US continues to benefit from strong demand and low levels of supply, with highest ever occupancy. Rates in the US increased by 4.4 percent.

IHG also experienced continued growth of industry-leading boutique hotel brands with strong US RevPAR performance and an expanding global presence.

For Europe, RevPAR increased 5.8 percent with solid growth in the UK and Germany. UK growth of 7.7 percent was driven by rate increases in both London and the provinces. Germany was up 4.7 percent. The company added that Central and Southern Europe are showing good signs of recovery but difficult trading conditions persist in Russia and the CIS.

RevPAR in Asia, Middle East & Africa improved 6.2 percent, supported by strong performance in the firm's established markets of Middle East and Japan. Middle East RevPAR increased 5.7 percent, driven by high single digit growth in Saudi Arabia and recoveries in Egypt and Lebanon. Japan grew by 9.9 percent, benefiting from growth in rate due to increased international tourism.

In Greater China, RevPAR was up 2.4 percent driven by the company's continued industry outperformance and robust trading in mainland China.

The company added that its net system size increased 4.9 percent year- on- year, and 3.3 percent excluding Kimpton, to 723k rooms.

IHG said its financial position remains robust, and that its gross capital expenditure guidance for the year is unchanged at up to $350 million.

The company added that the sale of InterContinental Paris - Le Grand for 330 million pounds is expected to complete in the first half of 2015 and its strategic review of InterContinental Hong Kong is on-going.

In London, InterContinental shares were gaining 1.52 percent to trade at 2,801 pence.