Accor 'blessed' by 2024 prospects after record 1 billion euro profit

By Diana Mandia

(Reuters) - Europe's biggest hotel group Accor reported a bigger than expected jump in full-year core profit and gave an upbeat forecast for 2024 thanks to major international events and increased business travel, sending its shares up as much as 5%.

The sector continues to benefit from the post-pandemic boom in leisure travel despite inflation and Accor Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin has been surprised by the extent of the recovery in business travel.

"I was wrong three years ago when I said we're probably going to stand to lose 25% of corporate travel for ever because of this ability to work remotely. We are already at 90% of the level of 2019," Bazin told analysts on Thursday after the company posted record profit for 2023.

He also flagged major international sporting events this year, such as the Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024 soccer tournament.

"We are blessed for the next 12 months," Bazin said.

However, he also warned that 2024 economic growth forecasts differ widely from country to country in Europe. France recently lowered its forecast to 1% from 1.4% and Germany expects the economy to grow only 0.2% this year.

"But you still have Spain, Greece, Italy fetching probably well above 2% ... Watch out because we are going to be navigating through a lot of different waters depending on where we sit," Bazin added.

Shares in the operator of brands including Ibis and Novotel were up 3.4% at 39.2 euros by 0909 GMT.

Accor also confirmed the medium-term growth prospects it announced in June, including a 2024 share buyback programme totalling about 400 million euros ($433.5 million).

Accor's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 49% to a record 1 billion euros last year, beating the 986 million euros expected by analysts in a company-compiled poll.

($1 = 0.9227 euros)

(Reporting by Diana Mandia in Gdansk; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and David Goodman)