IHG reports 'solid' Q1 performance in UAE and KSA

InterContinental Hotels Group has reported strong revenue growth across Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) in the first quarter, with the company highlighting “solid” performances in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Across the region, revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 3.8% year-on-year, but up 7.1% excluding Thailand, Egypt and Lebanon, where there has been ongoing political unrest in the quarter.

The strong result was led by South East Asia which, excluding Thailand, saw double digit RevPAR growth. Australia and Japan also continued to perform well in the quarter with 7.6% and 10.1% RevPAR growth respectively.

In the Middle East, IHG said its largest markets of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates delivered “solid” RevPAR growth despite being impacted by visa restrictions and strong 2013 comparatives respectively

Globally, RevPAR grew by 6% and the company announced it would return US $750m to shareholders by way of special dividend with share consolidation.

“We have made an excellent start to the year with our strongest RevPAR performance in seven quarters and our best first quarter for pipeline signings in six years,” said IHG chief executive Richard Solomons.

“This reflects the continued growth momentum in the business and the strong preference for our portfolio of brands from both owners and guests.”

In AMEA, occupancy rates were up 0.2 percentage points to 72.8% in Q1, while average daily rates grew by 3.5% to US $149.31.

As of 31 March it had 66,237 rooms across 250 hotels in the region, while it had 133 properties in the pipeline which will add a further 31,305 rooms.