Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AccorHotels, said: "Third-quarter performance was in line with the trends observed since the beginning of the year, with strong business activity in most of the Group’s markets, flat demand in France and a rapid deterioration in Brazil reflecting a challenging economic environment. AccorHotels continues to deploy its strategy, with the initial success of the digital plan and fast growth for HotelServices, and the transformation of HotelInvest. In light of these elements, the Group refines the range of its 2015 EBIT forecast to between €655 million and €675 million."
Third-quarter 2015 highlights:
• Sustained growth in a vast majority of European markets
• Very solid performances in Africa Middle East and Asia-Pacific (excluding China)
• Flat demand and a stable performance in France
• Rapid deterioration of the situation in Brazil, exacerbated by the devaluation of the real
• HotelInvest: continued restructuring at a fast pace
• HotelServices: opening of 23,449 rooms (154 hotels) since the beginning of the year; further implementation of the digital plan
Favorable outlook maintained
The Group delivered solid performances in the third quarter of 2015, in line with the trends observed in the first half.
AccorHotels continues to enjoy robust momentum overall, with very dynamic markets including the United Kingdom, Germany, the Benelux countries, Southern Europe, Central Europe, the Middle East and a large majority of the Asia-Pacific region.
Business activity in France is still affected by the continued weakness of the local economy and the decline in its appeal as a travel destination following the events of January and the security measures subsequently implemented by the authorities.
The main point of vigilance continues to be the Americas, particularly Brazil, where the unfavorable change in exchange rates is compounding an extremely challenging political and economic environment.
On the basis of these elements, and in line with the indications issued in conjunction with the half-yearly results, the Group expects full-year 2015 EBIT to amount to between €655 million and €675 million, a narrowing around the midpoint of the range given in July.
FIRST-HALF 2015
Transformation plan benefits confirmed by first-half 2015 results
* * *
First-half revenue up 5.1%1 to €2,726 million (+4.1% LfL)
EBIT up 23.8%1 to €263 million (+8.0% LfL)
Net profit up 68%1 to €91 million
* * *
Full-year 2015 EBIT target: between €650 million and €680 million
Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Accor, said: “Once again, AccorHotels has undertaken numerous initiatives to secure its lead and improve its performance. Our teams have united around our strategic priorities – restructuring of the property portfolio at HotelInvest, swift rollout of the digital plan, selective hotel development, revamping of the food and beverage offering and cultural transformation. The benefits from these initiatives have contributed to our good results in the first half, which include a significant increase in revenue and EBIT, strong cash flow generation, more robust positions in the fastest-growing markets and an improvement in the value of our hotel assets.
These conditions enable us to set an objective for the full year of significantly improving our performance while at the same time ramping up our digital investment, despite persistently mixed environments in Brazil and France. All of this encourages us to proactively pursue our goal of transforming AccorHotels through our boldness, vision and pioneering spirit, with the same single objective in mind – better serving our customers."
First-half 2015 highlights:
• Strong growth in Europe, excluding France, where growth was moderate
• Sustained growth in emerging markets, with the exception of Brazil, down sharply
• HotelInvest: strong improvement in performance, with restructuring continuing at a rapid pace
• HotelServices: sound growth in H1, rollout of the digital plan and launch of the AccorHotels marketplace, open to independent hotels
1 As reported
