Yahoo Finance Hotels and offices in demand as economies reopen: Results to know today
Results season rolls on with a number of pandemic-sensitive companies reporting today.
Here's what you need to know as it plays out on Tuesday:
First up: Hotels and offices with IHG and IWG
Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG.L) said on Tuesday morning that it had seen a significant improvement in trading.
The company, which operates around 6000 sites said that in July occupancy rates had grown so high that revenue per available room — a common industry measurement — had exceeded 2019’s levels in nearly half of its hotels.
Despite the positive report, investors seemed unconvinced. Stock was down 0.8% in early trade in London following the report.
IHG's recovery in the Middle East, Africa and Australia is still facing an uphill struggle, with revenue per available room still 65% lower than in 2019. It is also still 26% lower in the Americas.
"China, which had been first to recover from the pandemic is starting to show signs of weakness as another round of restrictions hurt demand in June," said Laura Hoy, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"There’s no telling whether this will continue as variant concerns set in, but we’re mindful that China seems to be a few steps ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to the pandemic."
Meanwhile in the office...
IWG (IWG.L) stock headed 1.5% higher as the office rental firm expressed cautious optimism, despite posting a bigger half-year loss.
The WeWork rival repeated its expectations of a strong 2022 comeback, but said the pace of the rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic was coming through slower than originally anticipated.
Half-year open centre revenue fell 14.6% to £1.1bn ($1.47bn), while occupancy declined 6.9 percentage points to 68.4%.
Derwent (DLN.L) also said that demand in London was starting to rebound, raising expectations for rental growth. It said the value of its investment portfolio had increased 1.4% to £5.4bn in the first half of this year.
Shares rose 2% as it said it had increased its interim dividend by 4.5% to 23p per share.
Abrdn profits jump 77%, outflows slow
Asset manager Abrdn (ABDN.L) hailed progress in its transformation plans in its half-year report, as it posted a 77% jump in first-half profits on Tuesday. Positive results were helped by a rise in fees despite it posting a net drop in assets under management.
We’ve published our half year results for 2021. Full details are on our website https://t.co/Fynb3SmPzi pic.twitter.com/IIb27ud3pl
— abrdn plc (@abrdn_plc) August 10, 2021
The firm reported £5.6bn ($7.8bn) of net outflows for the first half of this year, compared with about £25bn a year earlier.
Shares slid 1.4% following the results.
The results are the first following Standard Life Aberdeen's vowelless rebrand to abrdn. It had pitched the new image as a chance to refocus following a troubled integration in its merger with Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.
The shares have fallen about 30% since the deal was first announced.
M&G swings to a loss as it 'repositions' business
FTSE 100 asset manager M&G (MNG.L) swung to an IFRS loss after tax of £248m in its first-half results, compared with a profit of £826m in H1 2020 as it moved to reposition its business.
Investors brushed off the fact that it had reported a 6% improvement in its first-half adjusted operating profit before tax, at £327m, as shares moved 1.8% lower.
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