InterContinental Hotel Group releases H1FY25 report

InterContinental Hotels Group has announced its half year results for the current fiscal. The group reported a strong performance with a 12 per cent growth in operating profit from reportable segments and a 12 per cent growth in adjusted EPS along with record signings; on track to return over $1 billion to shareholders; confident in long-term growth drivers.

Key highlights
Trading and revenue, The Global RevPAR grew by three per cent, ADR saw a rise of two per cent while, occupancy increased 0.6 per cent along with a rise of six per cent in total gross revenue amounting to $ 16.1billion.

System size and pipeline, the hotel group saw a steady rise in system size and pipeline as the gross system growth was reported to be around 4.9 per cent on a  year-on-year basis; the net system growth on the other hand showcased a steady rise as well with 3.2 per cent year-on-year growth.

H1 saw the opening of over 18,000 rooms across 126 hotels in which took the global estate up to 955,000 rooms and 6,430 hotels. The development pipeline saw a significant rise with the signing of nearly 57,100 rooms and 384 hotels in H1, which grew by 67 per cent in total and the global pipeline gained 330,000 rooms and 2,225 hotels, which amounts to a  15 per cent increase when compared to last year.

Margin and profit , the operating profit from reportable segments rose by 12 per cent, around $535 million. The adjusted EPS grew by 12 per cent, including increased adjusted interest expense1 of $79 million.

Cash flow and net debt, The Net cash generated from operating activities stood at $162 million while, after adjustment is amounted to $132 million, with the decrease driven by planned reduction of prior System Fund surplus.

While, the net debt increased by $510 million since the start of the year, As a result of $539 million of shareholder returns through dividend payments and share buybacks. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $1,140 million which is a 14 per cent increase on an yearly basis.

Elie Maalouf, Chief Executive Officer, IHG Hotels & Resorts, stated, “With thanks to our teams around the world, we are making great progress on the delivery of our strategic priorities and the clear framework to drive future value creation that we set out in February. RevPAR growth accelerated in the latest quarter, reflecting a strong US rebound in Q2 and the breadth of our global footprint, and development activity continues to increase. Together with system growth, notable margin expansion and the benefit of returning surplus capital through buybacks, adjusted EPS growth was 12 per cent."

"We celebrated 126 hotel openings in the half and the signing of a record-breaking 384 properties, equivalent to more than two a day. These included the first six openings and 118 signings from the NOVUM Hospitality agreement, which doubles our presence in the important and attractive German market. After growth of seven per cent in Q1, a very busy Q2 saw 23 per cent more signings year‑on‑year or more than doubling when including NOVUM, and this keeps us on track for net system size growth expectations. We continue to strengthen our enterprise to position IHG as first choice for guests and owners, further improving and growing our brands, driving loyalty contribution, rolling out new hotel technology and increasing our ancillary fee streams. Our cash generation and strong balance sheet continue to support further investment in growth, and we are confident in capitalising on our scale, leading positions and the attractive, long-term demand drivers for our markets,” he further added.