European hotel giant Accor offers plan to split businesses

French group Accor, Europe's biggest hotel company, posted on Wednesday a net loss for 2009 and called a shareholders meeting in June to decide whether to split its core businesses.

Accor's board of directors has approved the separation of the group's hotel and service businesses and the plan will be submitted for approval at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on June 29, the company said in a statement.

The group also reported a net loss of 282 million euros for 2009 (381.8 million dollars) owing to the depreciation of assets and restructuring costs. But it posted a better-than-expected operating profit of 448 million euros.

Accor employs more than 150,000 people and runs about 4,000 hotels around the world, including the Ibis, Mercure, Novotel and Sofitel brands.

It also runs a prepaid services business, which provides employee benefits including lunch, transport and childcare vouchers in 40 countries.

Shares of the new Accor Services company could be introduced in the stock market in July, Accor said.

"Each Accor shareholder will receive a share in the new Services company," Accor chief executive Gilles Pelisson said in a teleconference.

The hotel company would take 75 percent of the group's debt, which totals 1.6 billion euros, while the new services company would be responsible for the remaining 400 million euros, he said.

Accor shares rose by 3.39 percent to 37.70 euros after the group posted its results and gave details of the plan to separate the company, leading a Paris stock market that was down 0.33 percent in morning trading.

AFP