IHG announces US$350m dividend
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The biggest hotel company in the world, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has revealed that its first half pre-tax profits rose by 65.6% in the six months ending 30 June prompting a US$350m shareholder dividend.
The dividend is part of IHG’s target of returning US$1 billion to investors.
CEO Richard Solomons said: “We have delivered a good performance in the first half, with our preferred brands driving revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth of 3.7%, including 4.0% in the second quarter. Our global scale has allowed us to reinvest in the business whilst growing margins, resulting in solid underlying profit gains led by our Americas region, and strong cash flows.”
The company’s Chinese results were disappointing overall, RevPAR was down 1.9% in the second quarter of 2013; a downturn the company put down to a series of natural disasters in Western China and the ongoing impact from the slower macroeconomic conditions. However the company outperformed the wider industry in China by 5.9% in the first half of 2013.
Solomon added: “Consistent with our long track record of returning value to shareholders, we today announce a US$350m special dividend. In addition we are increasing the interim dividend by 10% reflecting our good first half results and the confidence we have in the future prospects of the business.
“We continue to strengthen our foundation for future growth, signing more than 200 hotels into our pipeline, a notable increase on H1 2012 reflecting our owners’ confidence in both IHG and the industry demand drivers.
Our high quality pipeline, broad geographic spread and fee based model give us confidence in the outlook, despite the ongoing challenging economic conditions in some of our markets.”
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