The chief executive of Intercontinental Hotels Group unveiled a fresh growth strategy yesterday, but if he thought that might placate investors looking for cash in hand, he was disappointed.
Shares of the Holiday Inn operator fell by 5.4% in early trading before closing down 2.75%, or 129p, at £45.68, after Keith Barr said that surplus money would be used to cut costs by $125 million a year and to drive growth.
Barr, who took the reins in July last year, said that achieving the savings by 2020 would cause an exceptional cash hit of $200m, most of it this year.
The Telegraph adds that the business is merging its Europe division with its Asia, Middle East and Africa group, naming the combined group EMEAA, in a move Barr says will remove unnecessary bureaucracy and speed up decision making.
Click here for the full Times article
Click here for the full Telegraph article
