InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (NYSE:IHG) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Elie Maalouf: Thank you, Michael. To summarise, we operate in a very attractive industry benefiting from long-term structural growth drivers of expanding GDP, growing populations, rising middle class and wealth, and people’s fundamental desire to travel and physically interact for both business and leisure. IHG has a well proven ability to successfully drive long-term growth in both demand and supply, with full year RevPAR growth of 16% and net system growth of 3.8% once again demonstrating this. Our well-invested portfolio of 19 brands forms a powerful network of nearly 950, 000 rooms across more than 6,300 hotels. We have geographic reach across more than 100 countries and a full range of product segment diversification from midscale to upper luxury.

Our pipeline of nearly 300,000 rooms represents secured multi-year growth of over 30% of today’s system size. With year-on-year growth of 23%, our operating profit exceeded $1 billion for the first time, and helped drive earnings per share growth by an outstanding 33%. We are highly cash generative which supports our capital allocation strategy. We returned $1 billion to shareholders last year through ordinary dividends and share buybacks, and will exceed that total in 2024. And with that, we thank you for listening to our 2023 full year results presentation, and very much hope that you will also join us for the separate update on our strategic priorities and future growth ambitions later today.

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