IHG PLC announced its preliminary results today.
View full IHG year-end 2008 results.
Commenting on the results and trading, Andrew Cosslett, Chief Executive of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC said:
“We produced good results in 2008 and comfortably exceeded our three year target to add 50,000 to 60,000 net rooms by the end of 2008 - adding over 82,000 rooms. We opened 20% more rooms than in 2007 and signed almost 100,000 rooms into our pipeline.
“The $1 billion Holiday Inn relaunch is progressing well. We will have almost 600 hotels operating under the new standards by the end of the first quarter and are committed to completing the global programme by the end of 2010. The first relaunched hotels show a strong increase in revenue per available room which is a big motivation for other owners to convert.
“The trading environment is very tough. The sharp deterioration that we reported on last November has continued into 2009 and we see no signs of improvement at this stage. It has been clear for some time that 2009 will be a challenging year and we have taken action to prepare the business, including strict management of cash and a significant reduction in costs. The actions we have taken to move the business to an asset light model with strong brands, scale advantage and leading technology and reservation systems position us well to grow market share in the testing times ahead.”