IHG Shares Stagnant First-Quarter Results

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) revealed its first-quarter earnings results, which showed revenue per available room (RevPAR) only grew 0.3 percent.

The IHG report also saw average daily rate (ADR) increases of 0.6 percent, while occupancy for the quarter was down 0.2 percent. CFO Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson blamed the stagnant numbers on softness in the United States, Middle East, France and South Korea markets.

“Our strategic focus on driving industry-leading net rooms growth is delivering strong results, with our net system size increasing 5.4 percent in the first quarter and our highest number of signings in 12 years,” IHG CEO Keith Barr said in a statement. “Global RevPAR increased 0.3% against strong prior year results, with good growth in the US where we outperformed the industry segments where we compete, and continued market share gains in China.”

While the slowing upper-midscale hotel sector is where IHG thrives thanks to the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands, Edgecliffe-Johnson said the category has been dealing with an influx of supply that hurt the company’s growth.

IHG is looking to offset the slowed growth by introducing a new upper-midscale all-suite brand later this month, but the companies still projecting tempered optimism for the remainder of 2019.