ACCORHOTELS has abandoned plans to buy a minority stake in Air France-KLM amid heavy losses and ongoing turmoil at the French carrier.
Announcing its half-year financial results yesterday, Accor said it remained convinced that a strengthened partnership between hotel companies and airlines offered “significant value creation potential”.
However, it said requirements for the acquisition of a minority stake in AF-KL had not been met, and that it had decided “not to further pursue this opportunity.”
The hotelier had announced last month that it was considering an investment in the airline pair “as part of a strategy to enrich its range of services” (TD 05 Jun).
But the announcement was met with surprise given ongoing industrial conflict affecting AF and the sudden resignation of its chief executive Jean-Marc Janaillac (TD 07 May).
Accor announced revenue of 1.6 billion in the first half of 2018, up 8% on 1H last year.
Earnings (EBITDA) were up 4.2% to 291 million.
The group now expects full-year EBITDA of between 690 million and 720 million.
Source: traveldaily