(Reuters) -Accor, Europe’s biggest hotel group, reported a larger-than-expected rise in first half earnings on Thursday, citing higher prices and the benefits of a diverse portfolio.
The French-based company reported a 9.4% rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to €552 million ($631 million), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of €544 million.
Accor’s revenue per available room (RevPAR), one of the industry’s main performance indicators, missed expectations for the second quarter at 4.1% against a company-provided consensus of 4.7%.
The operator of brands including Ibis and Novotel, said it benefited from its presence in over 110 different countries, seeing mixed regional trends.
“We remain confident in our ability to achieve our medium-term growth targets in a complex environment, the momentum remains positive, despite the negative impact of exchange rate fluctuations – in particular the appreciation of the euro against the dollar,” finance chief Martine Gerow told reporters.
Accor said revenue in the six months to July 31 reached 233 million euros, down from 253 million euros a year earlier.
The group also reiterated its outlook for 2025, including RevPAR growth of between 3% and 4%.
($1 = 0.8752 euros)
(Reporting by Johan Bodinier in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
