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Accor records €1.5bn loss after ‘violent shock’ of Covid

Accor reported a €1.5 billion loss for the first half of the year following what chairman and chief executive Sebastien Bazin called a “violent and unprecedented” shock to the hospitality sector.

However, hotel giant Accor reported “signs of recovery in all regions” following the “dramatic deterioration in the industry” caused by the Covid pandemic.

Bazin said: “The peak of the crisis is undoubtedly behind us, but the recovery will be gradual. Accor must become simpler, leaner, [and] more agile.”

Accor recorded a €227 million operating loss, but a net loss of €1,512 million after an additional €1 billion loss in non-recurring items “stemming mainly from asset impairments”.

The group gave few details but described the impairments as “the result of revised prospects of a return to pre-crisis business levels in 2023 and an increase in discounting rates owing to market volatility”.

It reported 81% of its hotels, or more than 4,000 properties, were open on August 3 and recorded it had opened 86 hotels in the first half of the year despite the crisis.

Yet 99% of Accor hotels in the UK were still closed at the end of June after “the end of the lockdown [in the UK] began later than in other European countries”.

Accor reported it ‘burned’ cash at a monthly rate of €80 million through the first half of the year, but it retained “a robust liquidity position” of more than €4 billion at the end of June.

The group’s financial position benefited from the disposal of the Orbis Group in March for €1 billion.

Accor announced the launch of a €200 million cost-savings plan involving “the simplification and realignment of operating structures” and “automation of tasks” but gave no details.

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