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IHG Reports Good First Half Performance; Exceeds 60,000 Rooms Target Ahead of Schedule

2008-08-14 11:23 1307

-- Growth in Asia Pacific remains strong across all brands; nearly 9,000

rooms signed, more than half in China

-- Good growth also seen in India and Vietnam

SHANGHAI, Aug. 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms, yesterday announced its half year results to 30 June 2008. Its three year net rooms growth target, which was set for end 2008, has been exceeded six months ahead of schedule, with 60,490 rooms added since June 2005. 48,282 new rooms (356 hotels) were signed during the first six months of this year, bringing the pipeline to 242,349 rooms (1,788 hotels) which is 41 per cent of the existing system size. Global constant currency Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) grew 4 per cent. Total gross revenue from all hotels in IHG's system was $9.6 billion, up 8 per cent in constant currency.

Asia Pacific: RevPAR growth across all brands

In Asia Pacific, a total of 2,670 net rooms were opened and another 8,922 rooms signed across the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. RevPAR increased 5.2 per cent across the region, driven by rate. Greater China RevPAR grew 1.7 per cent, slowing from 3.2 per cent in the first quarter to 0.5 per cent in the second mainly due to the impact of the Sichuan earthquake and the introduction of international visa restrictions. Continuing revenues grew 18 per cent to $141 million across the region, driven by 15 per cent growth in owned and leased revenues and 27 per cent growth in managed revenues.

Operating profit from continuing operations grew 7 per cent to $29 million. Owned and leased hotel operating profit increased 33 per cent to $20 million driven by 15.2 per cent RevPAR growth at the InterContinental Hong Kong, after completion of its multi year refurbishment at the end of 2007. Managed hotel profit grew $7 million to $26 million driven by 5.1 per cent RevPAR growth, an increased contribution from the joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA) and continued room expansion in Southern Asia and Greater China.

The fastest growth was seen in China, where a total of 16 IHG hotels and nearly 5,000 employees in Beijing are currently busy supporting athletes, officials and visitors during the Olympics. Today, IHG has 95 hotels open in Greater China and 116 in the pipeline.

Peter Gowers, chief executive, IHG Asia Pacific said, "These first half results demonstrate our strength as the leading international hotel group in Asia-Pacific. We intend to continue to grow our market share in Greater China. In Beijing alone we opened seven hotels in the month leading up to the Olympics. Our current presence combined with our pipeline puts us over 20,000 rooms ahead of our nearest competitor. The Chinese government's investment in infrastructure, along with the increase in travel - both inbound and outbound - make China a strong growth market for the foreseeable future."

The following seven new hotels were opened in Beijing during the past several weeks:

-- InterContinental Beijing Beichen

-- Crowne Plaza Sun Palace Beijing

-- Crowne Plaza International Airport Beijing

-- Holiday Inn Express Beijing Temple of Heaven

-- Holiday Inn Express Beijing Guangshun

-- Holiday Inn Express Beijing Wangjing

-- Holiday Inn Express Beijing Mingzuyuan

Gowers added that during the first half, IHG signed six Holiday Inn hotels in India, where the company currently has a pipeline of more than 20 hotels (5,000 rooms). The company also signed another three hotels in Vietnam, a new market with good long term potential. IHG is today the fastest growing international operator in Vietnam, with a pipeline of seven hotels -- three InterContinental hotels located in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, and four Crowne Plaza hotels in Hanoi, Danang and Nha Trang.

In terms of innovation, IHG became the first and only hotel company to plot over 4,000 hotels and offer bookings on Google Earth which has over 250 million members and is available in nine languages. People can download the application to find a hotel nearest to their destination, and can even go down and see the building and the view.

Notes to Editors:

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) (LON: IHG, NYSE: IHG (ADRs)) is one of the world's largest hotel groups by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 4,000 hotels and more than 590,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express(R), Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood Suites(R) and Hotel Indigo(R), and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club(R) Rewards with over 39 million members worldwide.

IHG has more than 1,700 hotels in its development pipeline, which will create 150,000 jobs worldwide over the next few years.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales.

IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at http://www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at http://www.priorityclub.com . For the latest news from IHG, visit our online Press Office at http://www.ihg.com/media .

Source: InterContinental Hotels Group
Keywords: Travel
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