Accor suffers sharp drop in interim sales

French hotel giant Accor says it will continue to cut costs and capital expenditure after reporting a sharp drop in revenue for the first half of 2009.

The group saw a fall in overall revenue from €2.803b (£2.403b) in the first half of 2008 to €2.534b (£2.172b) in 2009. This represents a decline of  9.6% period-on-period, or 11.4% like-for-like.

The company said its expansion strategy, the sale of hotel properties, and the currency effect were all factors in the decline.

In the UK, first-half like-for-like revenue contracted by 10.2% but business in London fared better than the rest of the UK thanks to the weak pound attracting more tourists. This led to a 10.4% rise in leisure segment revenue.

The report said: “The second-quarter figures reflected the global economic situation which is still extremely depressed.

“With visibility in the hotels business still low, the business remains badly hit by the economic environment and has not yet showed signs of stabilizing in most countries.”

“The group is continuing to adjust to this environment by cutting costs and scaling back capital expenditure in 2009 and 2010.”

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By Gemma Sharkey

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