Travel stocks are usually among the first casualties of geopolitical tensions. But investors holding stock in Intercontinental Hotels Group looked past activity on the Ukrainian border and fixed their sights upon a sharper-than-expected recovery in occupancy levels.
Unveiling operating profits for last year that were ahead of consensus and reinstating the dividend earlier than expected, at 85.9 cents a share, fuelled a further bounce in the hotel operator’s shares. A recovery in occupancy and rates led by the Americas and the UK boosted revenue per available room last year to 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, up from 47.5 per cent in 2020.
The shares have regained almost all of their losses over the past two years and at just over 19 times forecast
