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Weak pound gives Accor third quarter boost

The weak pound helped boost third quarter UK business for French hotel giant AccorHotels.

The company reported UK growth of 2.2% in the three months covering the summer with high occupancy rates of 85%.

The performance was “notably due to the weak British pound, which boosted the foreign short-stay leisure sector and led to the British favoring the UK as a main holiday destination”.

However, AccorHotels added that UK trends remain mixed, with revenue per available room [revpar] contracting 2% in London but improving strongly in the rest of the country by 5%.

Business in Belgium declined sharply by 14.3% year-on-year following terrorist attacks.

Business in France was also impacted by a “climate of insecurity” since the start of the year, which was further exacerbated by the terrorist attack in Nice on July 14.

Revenue declined by 4.7% due to weak demand in the leisure-travel sector, with results again extremely mixed between Paris, with Revpar down 17.9% and regional cities where revpar was up 0.9%.

Overall like-for-like third-quarter revenue for the group was up by 1.8% to €1,538 million.

The full-year 2016 earnings [EBIT] target narrowed to between €670 million and €690 million.

AccorHotels chairman and chief executive Sebastien Bazin said: “During the third quarter, AccorHotels has once again delivered a robust performance that is even more remarkable given the particularly unfavourable situation in France during the summer following the terrorist attacks.

“With the integration of Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel during the period, the group has established itself as a leading player in the global luxury hotel business.

“Our brands are attractive, our development is dynamic and our active management strategy for the HotelInvest property portfolio continues to deliver results.

“Thanks to these strengths, we have been able to hone our outlook for 2016 and consolidate the significant improvement in our operational and financial performance.”

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