Owner of Holiday Inn Brand Posts Loss in Second Quarter

InterContinental Hotels Group Plc , the U.K.-based owner of the Holiday Inn brand, posted a loss in the second quarter following a year-earlier profit as it wrote down the value of some hotels in the recession.

Photo: Owner of Holiday Inn Brand Posts Loss in Second Quarter

The net loss was $56 million, or 19.2 cents per share, compared with net income of $101 million, or 34.1 cents per share in the year-earlier period, the Windsor, England-based company said in a Regulatory News Service statement today. The company took a one-time charge of $162 million. , Bloomberg reports.

"Trading was very challenging throughout the first half of the year and we expect the remainder of 2009 to be tough," Chief Executive Andrew Cosslett said in a results statement.

The hotelier, which typically manages or franchises hotels instead of owning them, and earns 70 percent of its profits in the United States, has been hit by the fall in global travel from leisure and business guests, especially since September , Reuters reports.