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InterContinental to return cash, sees no need for big hotel deal

* InterContinental plays down the need for big deal

* Hoteliers consolidating in face of Airbnb threat

* Plans $1.5 billion special dividend (Adds CFO comments, details, background)

By Esha Vaish

Feb 23 (Reuters) - InterContinental Hotels Group Plc plans to return $1.5 billion to shareholders through a special dividend and said it felt under no pressure to strike a big deal to respond to moves by rivals.

IHG, which runs over 5,000 hotels under brands such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and InterContinental, already has good exposure to growth areas including luxury and boutique hotels, Chief Financial Officer Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.

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His comments came after IHG reported a 4 percent rise in yearly profit. Its promise of a special dividend helped to send its stock up 2 percent and making it the fifth largest gainer on London's FTSE 100 index.

Although the payout had been expected following the sales of Le Grand InterContinental in Paris and InterContinental Hong Kong, at least two analysts said the amount was at the top end of their expectations.

The company had originally intended to use the cash to snap up one of its rivals, the Sunday Times reported last month, citing sources. (http://thetim.es/1XI2Ean)

Facing growing competition from online apartment-sharing startups such as Airbnb, hoteliers are consolidating. AccorHotels bought the owner of London's Savoy and Marriott International (NasdaqGS: MAR - news) purchased Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

This could put pressure on IHG, the world's biggest hotel operator by number of rooms just two years ago, as it has been pushed down the pecking order.

Its stock has lost 11 percent since it denied in November that it was exploring a "sale or merger", after being linked to a number of potential deals.

"If opportunities come up that are very compelling we'll look at them ...(but) we've got the areas where there is great consumer demand pretty well covered," Edgecliffe-Johnson said.

Helped particularly by strong growth in Europe, IHG posted full-year operating profit of $680 million, slightly ahead of analysts' expectation of $672 million.

However, growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry measure, slowed to 2.4 percent at constant currency in the fourth quarter, versus 5.1 percent a year ago.

RevPAR in the United States, one of its main markets, rose 2.9 percent, down from 7.5 percent a year earlier, hurt by IHG's presence in oil-producing American states.

Edgecliffe-Johnson said that IHG has about 14 percent of its rooms in such states, more than an industry average of about 10 percent, and that he expected the company to feel the oil price impact again in 2016. (Editing by Keith Weir)