Boston, MA 05/05/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Shares of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG) rose to nearly 8% on account of strength in the international stocks and mostly due to its own robust first quarter reports.
Asset Sales To Continue
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG) posted strong growth in its sales in the first quarter and above par achievement in its revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the period. In addition to this, the company said that it has finished two key asset sales during March, which involved Mark Hopkins located in San Francisco and 80% sale of interest in New York Barclay. The two sales induced InterContinental to declare a special dividend to the tune of $750 million on Friday. Moreover, the management asserted that it could sell more hotels.
Revenue Per Available Room Grew
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG), which operates 4,700 hotels under brands like Crowne Plaza, InterContinental and Holiday Inn, said that the first quarter global revenue per available room (RevPAR) rose to 6%, driven by higher occupancy and room rates and 6.6% growth in North American market. Revenue per available room (RevPR) is considered as one of the key industry measure to guage the performance of a hotel. RavPR in Europe stood higher at 6.1 per cent in the period, on account of double digit growth in Britain indicating economy growth. It rose by 3.9 per cent in greater China, where IHG has almost a third of it’s expansion pipeline. Moreover, IHG continues to maintain a strategy of selling hotels and take management of the properties under contract, which has led to a huge cash return to its shareholders. The company has so far returned $10.3 billion to its shareholders since 2003.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG) stated that it is looking for more asset sales as the global demand for prime hotels is soaring.IHG currently has seven possessed and leased hotels, Which includes its two trophy InterContinental hotels in Hong Kong and Paris that analysts at Numis estimate could be sold for twice their $650 million book value.
