UPDATE: Intercontinental posts strong Q3 but worries investors

published 8 November 2011

Intercontinental Hotels announced strong profits for the third quarter, driven by revenues in the US and China.

Pre-tax profits came in at £194m in the three months to the end of September, up from £126m the previous year. This was at the top end of analysts expectations.

Basic earnings per share came in at 61.4, compared with 35.8 the year before.

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Global revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 6.4%, during the period, with room rates rising 2.8%.

This was led by 10.8% RevPAR growth in Greater China and 8.0% in the US where the firm said it continued to outperform the industry driven by sustained results from its Holiday Inn relaunch.

Revenues rose 11% to $467m from $421m for the same quarter of last year.

"The economic environment continues to be uncertain, but we remain confident in our future due to our resilient business model, robust balance sheet and powerful brand portfolio, combined with low medium supply growth in many markets," Chief Executive Richard Solomons said in a statement.

The strong results didn't stop investors pushing the share price down almost 4% in morning trading.

Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said the third quarter results may have beaten estimates but could be having trouble selling off one of its US hotels.

"This is not great as the US is where they do the bulk of their business and if the transaction market is slowing, and IHG want to raise cash, they will struggle," he said.

"They don't have much in the way of short term debt so I would assume the cash is to bolster the balance sheet or expand into other markets - i.e. Asia, where they do limited business."