InterContinental Hotels Group plc (LON: IHG) said on Tuesday that it concluded 2020 with a loss due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that weighed on its revenue last year. In a bid to conserve cash, the company also refrained from declaring a final dividend.
InterContinental Hotels shares remained almost flat in premarket trading on Tuesday but jumped close to 5% on market open. The stock is now exchanging hands at £53.78 per share versus £23.85 per share in March 2020, when the impact of the health emergency was at its peak. The price action should come in handy if you are interested in investing in the stock market.
IHG reports £1.70 billion of revenue in 2020
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InterContinental Hotels said that its pre-tax loss in 2020 printed at £198.78 million versus the year-ago figure of £384.78 million in profit. The owner of prominent hotel brands, including Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, reported £184.58 million of total net loss in the recently concluded year, compared to £273.32 million of profit in 2019.
In separate news from Europe, the British multinational insurance company, Aviva plc, sold its French business to Macif’s Aema Groupe for £2.77 billion.
According to FactSet, experts had forecast IHG to post £108.55 million of full-year loss. The British multinational said on Tuesday that it generated £1.70 billion of revenue in 2020 versus a significantly higher £3.29 billion in the previous year.
As per the hospitality company, its revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the fourth quarter slid 53.2%. The full-year decline in its RevPAR stood at a slightly narrower 52.5%. InterContinental Hotels said that its RevPAR will take until 2025 to return to the pre-pandemic levels.
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IHG refrains from declaring a dividend
The Denham-based company refrained from announcing a dividend on Tuesday. According to its board, future dividends will be considered once signs of recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis start to get more prominent.
The Coronavirus pandemic has so far infected more than 4.1 million people in the United Kingdom and caused over 120 thousand deaths. In an earlier report published in August, IHG had registered a massive 82% decline in its first-half profit.
InterContinental Hotels Group plc performed slightly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of close to 10%. At the time of writing, the British multinational hospitality company is valued at £9.91 billion.