The French hotels group Accor
has posted its half-year turnover, ammounting to 4.01 billlion euros. This is up 8.8 percent on the same period last year lifted by its upscale and midscale hotels in Europe.

At constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates, the like-for-like increase was 6.1%, confirming that the environment remains favorable in the Services and Hotels businesses.

The Group’s expansion strategy accounted for 7.5% of revenue growth for the period, while disposals carried out as part of the ongoing asset-right strategy in the Hotels business reduced revenue by 3.6%.

  Services: up 14.6%

Revenue from the Services business increased by 14.6% as reported and by 12.0% like-for-like, in line with Accor’s medium-term organic growth target of 8 to 16% a year between 2006 and 2010.

In Europe, revenue was up 13.5% like-for-like for the period, reflecting organic growth of 16.0% in the first quarter and 11.1% in the second. In Latin America, like-for-like growth totaled 8.6%, with 10.7% in the first quarter and 6.6% in the second.

Second-quarter performance was shaped by strong growth in the United Kingdom (up 13.8%) and Belgium (up 23.4%), but also by persistently tough competition in Brazil (where revenue declined 1.2% like-for-like) and the non-renewal of certain contracts in Romania and Venezuela.

In line with the Group’s medium-term objectives, acquisitions accounted for 4.8% of first-half revenue growth. In particular, the acquisition of the Kadeos gift vouchers and cards business in France added 2.4%.

The currency effect on the first six months was a negative 1.5%, primarily attributable to the declines of the Mexican peso (down 0.5%) and the Venezuelan bolivar (down 0.7%) against the euro.

Hotels: up 8.6%

The 8.6% reported increase in Hotels revenue confirms the continuing uptrend in the European hospitality industry cycle underway since fourth-quarter 2006. Growth in Europe was led by increases in both the occupancy rate (up 1.1 point) and the average room rate (up 6.9%).

At constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates, the like-for-like increase was 5.2%, comprising organic growth of 7.2% in the first quarter and 3.6% in the second. Most of the second-quarter slowdown was due to non-recurring events that skewed comparisons, specifically the FIFA World Cup in Germany in June and July 2006 and the decline in demand in France during the May 2007 presidential election. Excluding the comparative impact of these non-recurring events, hotel revenue in Europe was up 5.5% for the period, confirming the upturn in the hotel industry cycle in the region, which accounts for 70% of Accor’s hotel revenue.

Business expansion represented 9.5% of revenue growth, with the consolidation of 52 Dorint hotels in Germany accounting for 6.1% of the increase and the opening of 13,824 rooms during the period for 2.3%.

In line with the asset-right strategy, the Group is continuing to dispose of hotel properties, in most cases under sale and management-back or franchise-back agreements. This process is reducing revenue, by 4.5% in first-half 2007.

The currency effect was a negative 1.6%, mainly due to the appreciation of the euro against US dollar.

Upscale and Midscale Hotels

Revenue in the Upscale and Midscale segment rose 14.1% as reported and 6.1% like-for-like. Growth was 8.5% in the first quarter and 4.0% in the second.

In France, revenue rose 7.0% like-for-like during the half, with second-quarter performance shaped by slower demand in May due to the presidential election. June, on the other hand, was particularly vibrant, with a 16.6% surge in RevPar attesting to the positive underlying trend.

During the second quarter alone, RevPAR was up 11.7% at Sofitel and 11.1% at Novotel.

In the United Kingdom, revenue rose 8.1% like-for-like during the half, led by a strong performance in London (RevPar up 11.5% in the second quarter, versus 9.9% in the first).

In Germany, revenue declined by 4.5% in the second quarter, but the comparison is not very significant in light of the strong prior-year performance, driven by the World Cup.

Adjusted for the comparative effect of non-recurring events in France and Germany, revenue in the Upscale and Midscale segment was up 5.7% in the second quarter, instead of the 4.0%.

Economy Hotels (outside the United States)

In the Economy Hotel segment, revenue rose by 7.7% as reported and 5.8% like-for-like in the first half. Over the period, like-for-like growth was 3.6% in France, 0.6% in Germany and 12.4% in the United Kingdom.

For the same reasons of comparison noted above for Germany and France, growth slowed in the second quarter to 4.0% (5.2% excluding the comparative effect) from 8.0% in the first three months.

US Economy Hotels

In the US Economy Hotel segment, revenue ended the first half up by 1.9% like-for-like, but down 6.2% as reported due to the dollar’s weakness against the euro. Revenue rose 3.5% at Red Roof Inn and 1.2% at Motel 6, whose business was hurt by the surge in gasoline prices, which particularly affects leisure customers.

Conclusion

The first half confirmed the uptrend in the Hotels business in Europe and saw sustained organic growth in Services, in line with the Group’s target of 8 to 16% a year.

Accor, the European leader in hotels and tourism, and a global leader in corporate services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 170,000 employees. It offers to its individual and corporate clients 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses:

- Hotels, with the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, All Seasons, Red Roof Inn, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands: with nearly 3,800 hotels and 450,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Lenotre ;

- Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 23 million people in 38 countries benefit from Accor Services products - meal and food vouchers, people care, incentive and loyalty programs.
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