Four months ago, I noted that InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) “is still excited about the future hotel market…but it should not expect me to book a luxury global Regent or Crowne Plaza room in 2023!”. Famously, I am much more of a Premier Inn/Whitbread (WTB) sort of guy. Interestingly, as an investor, both year-to-date and over the last six months you would have made more money via a holding in the latter too!

Many of you have probably stayed in an InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) hotel. I am sure a bunch of you are fans of the Regent or Crowne Plaza options, but I am a bit more of a Holiday Inn sort of guy. As for the company’s shares, I have not owned them for years but, when I look at their performance over the last year, they are 10% or so below the c. 5000p share price average. How exciting (not).

Over the last five years, £50 has been a regular share price for InterContinental Hotels Group plc (IHG).  Given the current challenges, I am surprised that the owner of Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and Regent Hotels & Resorts, has seen its shares recover to their pre-Covid peak.  So, whilst they have “seen very positive trading conditions in the first quarter, with travel demand continuing to increase in almost all of our [their] key markets around the world”, they must also hope for “a return of business and group travel". 

‘Nothing exists in a vacuum’. This was drilled into me as a neophyte analyst and it is why I continue to spend a significant amount of my time thinking about macroeconomic issues and how they impact the risk environment for individual stocks…

As tempting as it is to delve into a bit more banking sector geek maths looking at the big cost-cutting news from HSBC (HSBA) or having another go at Amigo (AMGO), which claims that a number of entities have expressed interest in buying some or all of its assets (good luck with that!), instead let us talk again about InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)…

I enjoy using the search function on this website because you can always learn something from articles written months or even years ago. Almost a year ago I wrote on international hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) that 'the company changed its CEO last July. The new incumbent is clearly trying to forge a distinct direction rather than live just off the legacy of his highly successful predecessor. That can be a dangerous thing to do too at the wrong point of the economic cycle'. That all seems very true, but the reality is in the last year the share has gone up. However reality is not so different…

Hello Share Pushers. The hotel game is a funny old business for share shifters like us. The sector rarely seems to act in unison. Where one chain does well, another doesn’t. And it’s hard to fathom the reasons. Except that you’ll have noticed that some pubs are full whereas the one down the road is empty. For some subconscious causes, one pub becomes trendy and its nearest rival does not. Same with hotels, I fancy...

Hello, Share Shunters. It is a source of continuing wonder to me that so many hotels exist. Why do huge armies of people feel the need to leave their comfortable homes to stay in featureless boxes, often in strange and unattractive places, all the time? Never mind, they do and that often makes hotel chains a worthy investment.

I have never actually written about Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) but I note the shares are down over 7% as I write. The company - best known for its Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn brands - said in an update today that 'the fundamentals for our industry remain strong. We are confident in the outlook for the remainder of the year and in our ability to deliver industry-leading net rooms growth over the medium term'. And to show this optimism it even announced a $500 million special dividend, equivalent to 5% of the current market cap. Not too shabby for a share that already yields 2.5%. Fair enough and with Q3 YTD RevPAR (revenue per average room) up 2.7% at least the numbers are moving forward too. So why the big fall?

I suggested InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) as a share for buying last July at 1874p indicating a target price of 2200p. The shares are now 2309p, having risen steadily through the year with a late spurt on takeover rumours.