InterContinental profit slips

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) today (22 May) announced a convoluted set of financial results for the six months to 31 March.

Six Continents has been split operationally into IHG and pub and restaurant arm Mitchells & Butlers since April, but the company's first-half financial results are still documented on one profit sheet.

Operating profit, the company's key financial indicator following the massive structural changes, is expected to be between £94m and £98m, down from £128m over the same period last year.

Only about £36m of this is predicted to come from IHG, a drop from £128m last year, according to Julian Easthope at investment bank UBS Wahlberg.

Mark Finney, a broker at Deutsche Bank, points to IHG's $20m (£12.3m) relaunch programme, "We Know What it Takes", and the continuing closure of the InterContinental hotel in Paris as key reasons for the fall in profits.

The financial impact of the Iraq war and the Sars outbreak is not expected to show on company balance sheets until the end-of-year results.