InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) H1 2026 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Operating profit from reportable segments rose 10% year-over-year to $665m, with adjusted EPS up 13% to 274.7¢ and record development activity, including 8% organic growth in both openings and signings.

• Global RevPAR increased 4.1% in H1 2026, with Americas up 4.8%, EMEAA up 3.0%, and Greater China up 3.1%.

• Net system size grew 5.0% year-over-year to 1,048,731 rooms across 7,109 hotels, with a pipeline of 348,000 rooms (2,385 hotels), representing 33% of current system size.

• Shareholder returns on track to exceed $1.2bn in 2026, including a $950m share buyback (42% completed by June) and a 10% increase in interim dividend.

• Strong pipeline growth, with 49,200 rooms signed (+8% YOY) and 31,500 rooms opened (+8% YOY, organic basis).

Financial highlights

• Revenue from reportable segments increased 7% to $1,255m; fee business revenue up 7% to $971m.

• Fee margin improved by 1.2 percentage points to 65.9%.

• Adjusted free cash flow was $360m, up from $302m in H1 2025; cash conversion above 100%.

• Interim dividend per share increased 10% to 64.5¢.

• Net debt increased by $330m to $3,663m, mainly due to shareholder returns; net debt/adjusted EBITDA at 2.6x.

Outlook and guidance

• Full-year adjusted interest guidance narrowed to $230m–$240m due to higher net debt and borrowing costs.

• Overhead increase expected within 1%-3% for the year, supporting further fee margin expansion.

• Leverage expected to remain within 2.5–3.0x net debt/EBITDA by year-end 2026.

• Medium- to long-term targets: high single-digit fee revenue CAGR, 100–150bps fee margin expansion, 12–15% adjusted EPS growth.

• Key money & maintenance capex guidance unchanged at $200–250m annually; medium-term gross capex guidance at ~$350m.