Accor Hotels sales and profits rise despite France slowdown following Paris attacks
French hotelier Accor has posted a rise in full-year profits as a strong performance in the Middle East and Africa helped offset a sharp fall in sales in its home market following the Paris attacks.
Accor is Europe’s largest hotel owner with nearly 3,900 hotels that it either operates or owns and 17 brands including Sofitel, Pullman, Mercure and Ibis.
Revenue increased by 2.3 per cent to €5.58bn (£4.35bn) in 2015 compared with €5.45bn the previous year. On a like-for-like basis sales increased by 2.9 per cent.
Accor said the performance was driven by healthy growth in the mediterranean, Middle East and Africa, where sales grew by 7.9 per cent.
Its hotels in Asia-Pacific and northern, central and eastern Europe also fared well – up 5.4 per cent and five per cent respectively. In the UK, where it has over 200 hotels, sales grew by 5.9 per cent.
However its home market in France suffered as a result of the attacks in Paris on the night of 13 November, with sales down 6.6 per cent in the fourth quarter and by 0.5 per cent for the year.
Earnings before interest and tax rose by 11 per cent to €665m on the previous year.
Chief executive Sebastien Bazin hailed the performance as “outstanding”, saying “the momentum driven by the strategic, operational and cultural transformation…are clearly producing results.”
The hotel sector has been caught up in a frenzy of deal activity over the past year, Marriott International buying Starwood Hotels & Resorts in November for $12.2bn (£9bn).
In December, Accor joined the fray after buying FRHI Hotels & Resorts, which owns Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel hotel chains, for $2.9bn (£2bn).
It has also announced two further deals today after buying a 49 per cent stake in Squarebreak, an online home-sharing platform for upscale homes.
Accor has also made a move into the private rentals market after snapping up a 30 per cent stake in Oasis Collections, which owns 1,500 rental properties across Latin America, the US and Europe.