IHG earnings up 2 percent

InterContinental Hotels Group said first-half earnings rose as a resilient US market made up for slowdowns in other regions.

Operating profit before one-time items climbed 2.1 percent to US$344 million, with gains in the Americas driving growth. That beat a US$332.9 million average estimate by seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Revenue fell 8.4 percent to US$838 million after the company sold properties in Paris and Hong Kong.

“Despite the uncertain environment in some markets, we remain confident in the outlook for the remainder of the year,” chief executive officer Richard Solomons said.

Operating profit in Europe fell 5.6 percent to US$34 million – hurt partly by the sale of the InterContinental Paris Le Grand last year – with revPAR in Paris dropping 19.5 percent. In the Middle East, revPAR was down 8 percent due to the ongoing impact of low oil prices. In the Americas, profit rose 6.1 percent to US$313 million.