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SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

 

 

Washington
DC 20549

 

 


FORM 6-K

 

 

REPORT
OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 AND 15d-16
OF

THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

 

For 04
March 2021
 

 


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

(Registrant’s
name)

 

 

Broadwater
Park, Denham, Buckinghamshire, UB9 5HJ, United Kingdom

(Address
of principal executive offices)

 

 

Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

 

 

Form
20-F          
Form 40-F

 

 

Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this form is also thereby furnishing the information
to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.

 

 

Yes         
 No

 

 

If
“Yes” is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): Not
applicable

 

 

 

 

EXHIBIT
INDEX

 

99.1

Annual
Financial Report dated 04 March 2021

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibit
No: 99.1

 


4 March 2021


 


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC


Annual Financial Report 2020


 


 


The Company announces that the following documents have today been
made available to shareholders:


 

1.  
Annual Report and Form 20-F 2020

2.  
Chair’s Letter

 


In compliance with Listing Rule 9.6.1R a copy of each of these
documents has been submitted to the UK Listing Authority via the
National Storage Mechanism and will be available in due course for
inspection at 
https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism  


 


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC will also file the Annual Report
and Form 20-F for the year ended 31 December 2020 with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission today.


 


Documents referred to above are publicly available on the
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC website and the Annual Report
2020 can be found at: 
https://www.ihgplc.com/investors/annual-report


 


Shareholders may request a hard copy of the Annual Report and Form
20-F 2020 free of charge from the address below:


 


Company Secretary’s Office


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC


Broadwater Park, Denham


Buckinghamshire UB9 5HR


United Kingdom


 


The Company’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on
7 May 2021.  The Notice of Meeting will be published and sent
to shareholders in due course.


 


 


Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 6.3.5R


 


The disclosures set out in the Appendices below are made in
compliance with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule
6.3.5R.  The Appendices have been extracted from the Annual
Report and Form 20-F 2020 (Annual Report) in full unedited text,
and the page number references refer to page numbers in the Annual
Report.  The information in the Appendices should be read in
conjunction with the Company’s Preliminary Results announcement,
which together constitute the material required by DTR 6.3.5R to be
communicated to the media in full unedited text through a
regulatory information service and this material is not a
substitute for reading the full Annual Report.

 


Appendix A – Related Party Transactions

 


Related party disclosures are set out in note 32 to the
Group Financial Statements, on page 196 of the Annual
Report: 

 

 


2020


$m

2019

$m

2018

$m


Total compensation of key management personnel

 

 

 

Short-term
employment benefits


10.5

15.8

18.2

Contributions
to defined contribution pension plans


0.3

0.5

0.5

Equity
compensation benefitsa


2.3

12.1

13.0

 


13.1

28.4

31.7

 


a
 As measured in
accordance with IFRS 2.

  


There were no other transactions with key management personnel
during the years ended 31 December 2020, 2019 or 2018. Key
management personnel comprises the Board and Executive
Committee.

 


Related party disclosures for associates and joint ventures are as
follows:

 

 


Associates


Joint Ventures


Total

 


2020


$m

2019

$m

2018

$m


2020


$m

2019

$m

2018

$m


2020


$m

2019

$m

2018

$m

Revenue
from associates and joint ventures


1

10

9


1


1

10

10

Other
amounts owed by associates and joint ventures


11

3

1



11

3

1

Amounts
owed to associates and joint ventures


(4)

(4)

(2)



(4)

(4)

(2)

 


The Group has provided a guarantee of $12m (2019: $12m) against the
bank loan of one associate (see note 31) and has provided
performance guarantees with a maximum pay-out remaining of $10m
(2019: $10m) (see note 3).

 


The Group funds shortfalls in owner returns relating to the Barclay
associate (see note 17). In addition, loans both to and from the
Barclay associate of $237m (2019: $237m) are offset in accordance
with the provisions of IAS 32 and presented net in the Group
statement of financial position. Interest payable and receivable
under the loans is equivalent (average interest rate of 0.8% in
2020 (2019: 2.1%)) and presented net in the Group income
statement.

 


Appendix B – Principal risks and uncertainties

 

The
principal risks and uncertainties relating to the Group are set out
on pages 36 to 41 of the Annual Report.  The principal
risks and uncertainties are supported by a broader description of
risk factors set out on pages 224 to 229 of the Annual Report.

 


IHG’s principal risks and uncertainties


While the Covid-19 crisis has not fundamentally changed the
principal risks to our business and strategy, it has heightened the
uncertainty we face in the short term and also created the
potential for longer term impacts based on trade-offs that have
been required to protect liquidity in 2020. The crisis has also
accentuated the increasingly interconnected nature of
risk.


 


We have not managed Covid-19 as a separate risk during the year, as
the pandemic has increased the risk profile across many of our
existing principal risks as we look forwards. This is most obvious
in


relation to the continuing significance of the safety and security
of our colleagues and guests, government regulations impacting
domestic and international travel, consumer confidence and appetite
to travel internationally in the longer term, how we operate our
hotels and the overall impact


on our business resilience.


 


The necessary response to Covid-19 safety concerns has also created
several secondary impacts and the potential for disruption and
additional stress on our risk management and internal control
arrangements. In addition, continued scrutiny of the social
performance of major corporates may also


lead to any incident or failure to manage risk receiving
significant and rapid attention.


 


All the risks on the grid below meet the definition of ‘principal’,
however we have reviewed the trends carefully to more accurately
reflect the current behaviour of these risks. In relative terms,
some risks


continue to trend upwards as we move into 2021 while other risks
remain more stable on 2020 levels. Where we have indicated changes
on the grid this is typically because of something we have noted
in


the nature of the risk itself, for example as a result of changes
in the external environment, our extended enterprise, or a specific
internal initiative.


 


By distributing the risks across the grid in this way based on
their behaviour, it allows the Board and management to consider
what different responses may be required to individual factors (for
example, rapid factors which may require continuity planning), or
the overall level of risk we are facing and what it means for
governance of the whole portfolio.

 


Risk description


Initiatives to manage these risks

Macro
external factors such as political and economic disruption, the
emerging risk

of
infectious diseases, actual or threatened acts of terrorism or war,
natural or man-made disasters could have an impact on our ability
to

perform
and grow.

 

Secondary
impacts and continuing uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic may
also exacerbate these factors across several markets and external
sources indicate that

these
risks are likely to trend upwards in future years with the
potential for more rapid impact on IHG.

●   
Our initial focus for Covid-19, both in China and in other markets,
prioritised the safety and security of our colleagues and guests by
supporting crisis management teams in our individual business units
and global functions. This support included monitoring intelligence
from a range of external and internal sources (e.g. government
health and travel advice) and developing guidance for hotel and
corporate offices on sanitation and cleaning procedures, including
for when hotels have been used for quarantine and to house
essential workers.

●   
The Risk and Assurance and Global Corporate Affairs teams have
developed guidance and internal and external communications
strategies and coordinated across regional and functional crisis
management teams to review business continuity preparations for
corporate offices (e.g. business service centres, reservation
offices and corporate offices) and key supplier relationships.
Furthermore, we established protocols for tracking and reporting on
the status of hotels in China early in 2020, which then evolved
into monitoring of hotels in other regions.

●   
We maintain a range of intelligence sources at our disposal to
horizon-scan for emerging threats, provide insight to leadership on
incidents that impact operations, and analyse future political and
economic scenarios to inform the business planning cycle, including
at the Board and Executive Committee level. We are also applying
lessons learned from Covid-19 and using data analytics to better
prepare for future disruption, in particular in relation to other
fire safety and security threats that continue to receive
industry-wide scrutiny.

●    
In addition to epidemics and pandemics, the risk of earthquakes and
extreme weather events continues to pose a threat to IHG
operations. IHG manages these events through training, advanced
monitoring and warning, and standard operating procedures. As we
moved into the 2020 hurricane season, regional operations teams
planned and communicated with hotels, including those operating at
reduced capacities, to ensure they were prepared to maintain safe
operations for colleagues and guests.

Failure
to deliver preferred brands and loyalty could impact our
competitive positioning, our growth ambitions and our reputation
with guests and owners.

 

Competition
from other hotel brands and third-party intermediaries create
inherent risks and opportunities to the longer-term value of
IHG’s

franchised
and managed proposition for our brands. The Covid-19 crisis has
also refocused guest expectations in relation to the
cleanliness

and
safety of individual hotels and IHG’s brands. In a potentially
lower-demand environment it will also be critical to use our
loyalty programme to drive business to our hotels and take
share

from
our competitors.

●   
The focus of our brands and loyalty teams during the crisis has
been on supporting our guests, owners and hotels. This has included
adjusting our cancellation policy to allow guests flexibility to
change or cancel bookings, rolling over our IHG Rewards Elite
membership status to 2021 and reducing the achievement criteria for
2022, extending the deadline for points expiry until July 2021, and
launching a suite of solutions to engage members.

●  
We have implemented enhanced cleanliness and safety measures
through the IHG Way of Clean programme to drive customer
confidence. Initially established in 2015, the IHG Way of Clean
programme is now a global brand standard that includes deep
cleaning processes and operating protocols developed with expertise
from third party partners, which reflect the advice of public
health authorities. As travel resumes, we have also introduced
other enhanced guest experiences such as a contactless journey
through the hotel, modified food and beverage offers and ‘Meet with
Confidence’ programmes to drive revenue recovery, and we have
created new virtual quality audit and compliance

processes to
reinforce standards and drive consistency.

●   
We also reduced costs for owners by relaxing brand standards and
operational and food and beverage requirements to balance enhanced
cleanliness and safety protocols.

●   
While the focus of our marketing management shifted rapidly to
respond to the pandemic and to support regional recovery, we have
built on the active transformation already underway with
enhancements to our Marketing organisation and processes which
enable us to drive efficiency in a financially constrained
environment and optimise resources and speed to market. We conduct
regular monitoring of indicators, including loyalty member data, to
identify emerging trends quickly.

●   
Throughout 2020, we also have prioritised our commercial spend
behind our loyalty programme towards the highest returning
marketing investments that drive business to all brands through the
loyalty programme umbrella. See page 17 for more details on our
priority to Build loved and trusted brands.

Attracting,
developing and retaining leadership and talent and failure to do
this could impact our ability to achieve growth ambitions and
execute effectively.

 

Risks
relating to people underpin the majority of

processes
and controls across IHG, and our ability to develop talent is
critical to delivering

value
to our brands and hotels in the global markets where we operate and
compete. It

is
essential that we retain key executive, leadership and specialist
talent, both at the

corporate
and hotel levels, in an uncertain hospitality industry and in a
resource

constrained,
highly competitive, and remote

working
environment.

●    
At the start of the Covid-19 crisis a cross-functional taskforce
was established to guide how we protect our employer reputation and
culture. While we have had to take actions to reduce costs at
corporate and hotel levels, HR teams have partnered with operations
and functional teams to develop guiding principles to protect our
reputation as a responsible employer; maintain our culture during
the crisis period; and equip teams to bounce back with great talent
and people practices. This has enabled us to maintain engagement,
avoid burnout and bolster support to leadership. Our approach to
managing our people during 2020 is outlined in detail on pages 26
to 28 and our normal business planning process includes a review of
workforce risks.

●    
Due to the Covid-19 crisis, our programme of engagement surveys and
HR scorecards adapted to reflect the realities of virtual and
remote working and a challenging period of

furloughs and
reduced hours. We have monitored key workforce indicators,
leveraged our existing virtual learning platforms to understand
employee sentiment, and utilised short pulse surveys to gather
employee feedback throughout the crisis and to shape our thinking
on returning to office working.

●   
The Executive Committee has regularly discussed talent retention
risks, and the HR team is focusing on talent plans with each
leadership team. We have refined our diversity and inclusion
strategy to drive recruitment and retention, and employee resource
groups help educate employees and build a culture of
inclusion.

●   
Effective communications have been established for internal
audiences, including regular all employee calls with the Chief
Executive Officer to provide latest updates, ongoing leadership
communications and virtual team meetings at regional and functional
levels, and continued development of our flexible learning summits.
Through these channels, leaders are able to answer questions from
employees at all levels.

●    
IHG has the ability to manage talent and retention risks directly
in relation to IHG employees but relies on owners and third-party
suppliers to manage these risks within their own businesses. Our
Procurement, Legal and Risk teams also consider more indirect
workforce risks relating to our third-party
relationships.

●    
The Remuneration Committee reviews our approach to executive
remuneration, aligned with the interests of shareholders and the UK
corporate governance environment.

Inherent
threats to cybersecurity and information governance remain
significant and dynamic and external attacks against the
hospitality industry have continued in 2020.

 

We are
aware of our responsibilities in relation to a range of high-value
assets (critical systems and employee and other sensitive data)
which may be targeted by various threat ‘actors’ including
organised criminals, third parties and colleagues). Rapid societal,
regulatory and media scrutiny of privacy arrangements mean that the
potential impact of data loss to IHG financially, reputationally or
operationally remains a dynamic risk factor. The disrupted working
conditions (including increased remote

access)
caused by the pandemic for our employees and suppliers and advances
in attack sophistication also heighten inherent information
security risks.

●    
While Covid-19 has modified the threat profile, our Information
Security team has pivoted to implement new solutions and controls
to address potential vulnerabilities, and to focus resources on
those operational tasks that best protect our sensitive data sets
and systems and detect and respond to potentially malicious events
in an appropriate way.

●   
In the early stages of the pandemic, we deployed our Intelligence
functions to gain early knowledge of potential new attack
campaigns; implemented controls to prevent malicious emails from
getting to email inboxes; and educated employees worldwide on the
increased dangers from phishing, business email compromise and
social engineering. We also accelerated the rollout of multi-factor
authentication to limit successful phishing attacks. To respond to
heightened inherent risks from remote working, we reviewed controls
for remote access solutions and increased monitoring to more
quickly identify malicious activity. Our Procurement team engage
key providers on their approach for maintaining operations and
fulfilling their contractual obligations for the safety and
security of our data and systems.

●   
We have continued to work with our specialist technology providers
to continuously improve key operational security processes and
capabilities such as Identity & Access Management, Security
Monitoring, Incident Response, and the support and maintenance of
technical solutions architecture.

●    
Preserving security across our complex corporate and hotel estate
requires continuous maintenance and enhancement or replacement of
hardware and software. With finances at a premium for hotel owners,
our Information Security and Technology teams collaborate to
provide reliable, scalable and cost-effective solutions, targeted
at areas of greatest opportunity for future attacks.

●    
Our information security programme is supported and reviewed by
internal and external assurance activities, including our Internal
Audit and Financial Governance teams and PCI assessments. The Board
receives regular reports using key risk indicators to track
inherent risk trends and mitigation activities. We also continue to
work closely with our insurers to ensure we are adequately
protecting against our risks and have assessed and quantified
potential cyber incident scenarios to drive risk-based discussions
on investing in remediation versus risk acceptance and transfer
opportunities.

Failure
to capitalise on innovation in booking

technology
and to maintain and enhance the functionality and resilience of our
channel

management
and technology platforms (including those of third-parties, on
which we rely directly or indirectly), and to respond to changing
guest and owner needs remains a

dynamic
and critical risk to IHG’s revenues and growth
ambitions.

 

Increasing
personalisation and understanding our guests and their needs will
drive return

stays
and further build loyalty. Despite the pandemic placing cost
pressures on our owners,

the
pace of change in the hospitality industry continues to accelerate
and IHG must evolve to effectively grow and compete in the
marketplace. It will be key for us to prioritise

digital
capabilities to drive our channels, actively expanding the breadth
and depth of our digital relationships with current and new
guests.

●    
Our comprehensive channels strategy is a key driver and enabler of
accelerated growth. Rapidly evolving guest and owner expectations
have increased the pressure to deliver commercial and technological
change more quickly. We continue to seek opportunities to align and
innovate our channels and technology platforms to Create digital
advantage (see page 19 for more details). Our IHG Concerto™
platform is operating at all IHG hotels, and over time future
releases will enhance the guest travel journey, deliver
efficiencies for hotels, and drive sustainable
revenue.

●    
To respond to the initial disruption from Covid-19, a new Global
Revenue Committee was formed across global and regional teams to
manage and drive booking activity and revenue. The Committee
developed and monitored specific leading indicators on market
status, sentiment, search and demand, and loyalty member trends,
and further tracked communications penetration, internal pulse
surveys and public relations effectiveness. The relatively reduced
level of booking activity in 2020 also created the opportunity to
reorganise our technology delivery model, moving more development
to technology partners and co-sourcing arrangements. We have also
engaged with our strategic suppliers during 2020 to adjust service
levels and anticipate continuity risks.

In a
resource constrained environment, the importance of investment
effectiveness and efficiency will be critical to balance short-
and

longer-term
strategic needs (e.g. developing infrastructure, increasing growth,
enhancing

digital
capabilities).

 

Failure
to manage risks associated with investments may impact
commercial

performance,
lead to financial loss, and undermine stakeholder
confidence.

●   
Our oversight and finance teams regularly review and evolve our
governance and control frameworks, including delegated approval
authorities and processes, to enable decisions on investments to be
made quickly and efficiently with consideration of the risks
involved. In early 2020 the Delegation of Authority Policy was
specifically updated to help drive cost-conscious behaviours and
close control of investment expenditure required in the business at
that time.

●    
With on-going uncertainty in the industry outlook, we need to
retain flexibility in the extent to which we commit to expenditure
until there is improved visibility. Our financial planning balances
a disciplined approach to discretionary investments with a need to
appropriately reward our people and invest in strategic growth
initiatives. There is, and will continue to be, a constant focus on
retaining flexibility within our cost base to ensure spend is being
prioritised in the right areas given the ever-changing environment.
Financial resource allocation is kept under regular review, with
decisions taken as part of our quarterly forecasting
process.

●     
We have also sought to protect key functions that are critical for
fulfilling our responsibilities as a publicly listed company and in
maintaining our reputation across our external stakeholders. For
example, we continue to ensure that we have the right level of
support in our Legal, Corporate Affairs and Financial Reporting
teams.

The
global business regulatory and contractual

environment
and societal expectations have continue to evolve throughout 2020.
Failure to ensure legal, regulatory and ethical compliance would
impact IHG operationally and reputationally, and nonregulatory
stakeholders

(including
corporate sales clients) and investors

continue
to focus on IHG’s performance as a corporate entity to uphold
ethical and social expectations. Significant fines can
be

imposed
for regulatory non-compliance, most

notably
in relation to privacy obligations and data security. In an
uncertain hospitality industry, there may be increased pressure
on

compliance
programmes, and a heightened risk of liabilities relating to our
franchise model both in relation to brand reputation issues as well
as litigation.

●   
Our Ethics and Compliance team focuses on ensuring IHG has a
globally coordinated approach to material ethical and compliance
risks, taking into account the regulatory environment, stakeholder
expectations and IHG’s commitment to a culture of responsible
business. The overarching framework for ethics and compliance is
the IHG Code of Conduct (see page 24) and we provide e-learning
training on an annual basis to all corporate, reservation offices
and managed hotel employees and new joiners.

●   
We continue to monitor changes and advise stakeholders on risks
across a range of regulatory issues, including safety, employment,
contract, privacy, anti-bribery and anti-trust, while also
addressing legal and regulatory issues that have emerged as a
result of Covid-19. We also continue to participate in Transparency
International UK’s 2020 Corporate Anti-Corruption Benchmark. This
is a comprehensive tool that measures and compares the performance
of anti-corruption programmes across companies on an anonymous and
confidential basis.

●   
We continue to focus on key human rights risks, particularly those
heightened by Covid-19. For example, to address migrant worker
staff accommodation risks which may have been heightened by the
pandemic, we developed a guidance note on staff living
accommodation for hotel teams.

●    
Monitoring of sanctions continues to be an increasingly important
part of our due diligence processes as their use by the US, UK and
EU in particular continues to grow. A sanctions update is
communicated annually to the Legal, Development and Strategy teams
and other relevant employees providing a reminder of ‘No Go’
countries and sanctions issues that may restrict IHG. Our owner
legal due diligence process also requires that all new owners are
screened against sanctions lists and we utilise due diligence tools
for this purpose. Ethics and compliance country-level due diligence
is also undertaken for new country entry assessments, taking into
account country specific risks and impacts.

●    
The Ethics and Compliance team currently monitors training
completions, gifts and entertainment reporting and the owner due
diligence process, and they receive informal queries/escalation of
issues directly from colleagues and via an Ethics and Compliance
email channel which is publicised in training and awareness
materials. The Board receives regular reports on the Confidential
Reporting Channel and matters directly related to our responsible
business agenda.

The
manner in which IHG responds to operational risk and the steps
taken to safeguard the safety and security of colleagues and guests
will continue to receive heightened scrutiny, particularly in light
of the Covid-19 pandemic, and could affect IHG’s reputation for
high standards of business conduct, result in financial damage, and
undermine confidence in our brands.

 

The
rapid progression of Covid-19 has also given rise to significantly
increased litigation risk across all markets. These risks relate
both to our direct operations in hotels and other locations where
we have management

responsibility,
and also to outsourced activities and others with whom we
collaborate and trade,

including
the owners of our franchised hotels which operate as independent
businesses.

●   
Our Business Reputation and Responsibility team coordinates and
monitors IHG’s risk management system, which is designed to
anticipate and identify relevant operational safety and security
risks and provide appropriate levels of control necessary to
mitigate against significant incidents, whether in hotels or
corporate offices. Regional and global subject matter experts in
safety and security work regularly with relevant stakeholders,
including hotels, operations leaders, and operations support teams
such as Design & Engineering, Food and Beverage and Human
Resources, to review and set operational safety and security
policies and procedures.

●    
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the enhancement of IHG’s
operational safety and crisis management procedures for hotels and
corporate offices. In early 2020, our safety experts worked closely
with Operations and Global Corporate Affairs to develop a Hotel and
Corporate Office Response Toolkit of guidance, processes and
procedures for operating a safe work environment in line with the
advice issued by government authorities and public health
officials. As the pandemic has progressed, this guidance has been
revised and expanded to address emerging operational safety issues,
and changes in local government requirements or public health
advice.

●    
Alongside Covid-19, subject matter experts in safety and security
have continued to monitor external trends that may impact the safe
operation of hotels, customer expectations, and development
opportunities (e.g. fire safety, food allergens), and we continue
to review our relevant standards and guidance as these issues
evolve and/or new regulatory requirements and best practices are
published.

●   
Our experts also track a range of internal indicators relating to
safety and security to assess their potential impact on the safety
of hotels, colleagues and guests as well as the impact on the
reputation of IHG and its brands. Despite our best efforts,
incidents may occur across our global hotel operations and
corporate offices and an assessment of severity and impact is made
before the most serious are promptly forwarded to senior
management. The Board receives and reviews regular safety reports
and monitors safety performance. Through this monitoring, IHG can
determine where additional standards or guidance may be necessary
or whether existing controls may need to be adjusted.

A
material breakdown in financial management and control systems
would lead to increased public scrutiny, regulatory investigation
and litigation.

 

This
risk includes our ongoing (and stable) operational risks relating
to our financial

management
and control systems which have been adapted to cope with remote
working arrangements during the pandemic; the continuing
expectations of IHG’s management decision making and financial
judgements; and

our own
business model and transactions.

●    
Covid-19 inevitably impacted IHG’s financial control environment,
with heightened risks relating to liquidity, business continuity
and fraud and a need to adapt and enhance existing processes for
employees working remotely and, in some cases, with a reduced
workforce. The Finance leadership team regularly monitors the
primary risks to the function and to IHG and, as the impact of
Covid-19 became clear, reviewed controls and implemented
enhancements to provide additional mitigation, including controls
over cash disbursements and expenditure, applying data analytics
where possible.

●    
We reviewed our business continuity arrangements, including for our
India-based Global Business Service Centre, given the operational
importance of processes located there such as accounts payable,
billing and cash collection, and financial reporting for both
corporate and hotels. In response to decisions to furlough
corporate employees during 2020 we evaluated risks, processes and
controls relating to accuracy of payroll; access to IT systems and
company credit cards; as well as completeness of payment
processes.

●    
Throughout the year we have reinforced policies across the
organisation, including particular emphasis on entity level
controls. We have continued to operate an established set of
processes across our financial control systems, which is verified
through testing relating to our Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
responsibilities. See pages 68, 144, 157 to 162 for details of our
approach to taxation, page 87 for details of our approach to
internal financial control, and pages 179 to 183 for specific
details on financial risk management policies. These processes and
our financial planning will continue to evolve to reflect the
changes in our management structure and business targets, including
system enhancements and further automation where
possible.

●    
While it remains difficult to assess trading conditions in 2021
with certainty, we will continue to adapt our approach to financial
control across our hotel estate. Given the differences in the
culture and ways of working across our regions, we apply globally
and/or regionally consistent policies and procedures to manage the
risks, such as fraud and reporting risks, wherever
possible.

●    
Our Group insurance programmes are also maintained to support
financial stability.

As a
global business, IHG faces uncertainties relating to evolving
environmental and social megatrends and our response to these is
subject to scrutiny from a wide range of stakeholders.

 

These
stakeholders include regulators and investor groups (such as the
Task Force on

Climate-related
Financial Disclosures (TCFD)), who focus on various environmental,
social and governance issues that have the potential
to

impact
performance and growth in key markets. The focus on companies
acting responsibly and being true to their purpose has been
heightened by the pandemic and will continue into the
future.

●   
Working together with governments and industry associations has
been key in ensuring our voice is heard among key stakeholders, as
well as being able to advocate for our industry and our owners. As
the pandemic has progressed there has been an expectation from
governments for companies to do the right thing by their
stakeholders. We work with key industry bodies to engage
governments and officials to take steps that support our industry
and owners across a number of different markets.

●    
To support our hotels in better understanding, managing and
reporting their environmental footprint, while driving operational
efficiency and reducing their utility costs, we are replacing IHG’s
Green Engage™ system with a more comprehensive and engaging
platform as well as an automated data entry solution to enable much
more accurate information capture. See pages 20 and 21, and 29 and
30 for details of our environmental policies and initiatives,
including our commitment to support the TCFD
recommendations.

●    
Our long-standing commitment to operating our business responsibly
has underpinned the actions we are taking in our local communities
see page 29. The Corporate Responsibility team has established core
principles to support our local communities, while establishing
clear governance for our overall community support strategy in
partnership with legal and communications.

●    
Our values and behaviours, underpinned by our Code of Conduct,
inform our decision making at all levels. For example, specific
elements of our Code of Conduct define expectations for IHG
employees in relation to human rights and the environment, and our
Procurement, Legal and Risk teams monitor supply chain and human
rights risks (see pages 24 and 25).

 


Appendix C – Directors responsibility statement

 


The following statement is extracted in full from page 114 of the
Annual Report and relates solely to the Group’s Annual Report and
Form 20-F 2020 and is not connected to this announcement or the
Preliminary Results:

  


The Board confirms that to the best of its knowledge:

 

The
Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as
issued by the  International Accounting Standards Board
(‘IASB’) and IFRSs adopted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002
as it applies in the European Union, and give a true and fair view
of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss
of the Group taken as a whole; and

The
Annual Report, including the Strategic Report, includes a fair
review of the development and performance of the business and the
position of the Group taken as a whole, together with a description
of the principal risks and uncertainties that it
faces.

 


For and on behalf of the Board

 


Keith Barr


Chief Executive Officer 22 February 2021


 


Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson


Chief Financial Officer 22 February 2021


 

 


 


 


For further information, please contact:


 


Investor Relations (Stuart Ford; Rakesh
Patel)          
    +44 (0)1895 512
176        +44 (0)7527 419
431


Media Relations (Yasmin Diamond; Mark Debenham)  +44
(0)1895 512 097        +44
(0)7527 424 046


 


 


About IHG Hotels & Resorts


IHG Hotels & Resorts
 [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)]
is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True
Hospitality for Good.


 


With a family of 16 hotel brands and 
IHG
Rewards
, one
of the world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has nearly
6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800
due to open over the next five years.


 

–    
Luxury and lifestyle:
 Six
Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
, Regent
Hotels & Resorts
InterContinental
Hotels & Resorts
Kimpton
Hotels & Restaurants
Hotel
Indigo

–    
Premium:
 HUALUXE
Hotels & Resorts
Crowne
Plaza Hotels & Resorts
EVEN
Hotels
, voco
Hotels

–    
Essentials:
 Holiday
Inn Hotels & Resorts
Holiday
Inn Express
avid
hotels

–    
Suites: 
Atwell
Suites
Staybridge
Suites
,  Holiday
Inn Club Vacations
Candlewood
Suites
 


 


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group’s holding company
and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and
Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG’s hotels and
corporate offices globally.


 


Visit us online for more about our 
hotels
and reservations
 and IHG
Rewards
. For
our latest news, visit our 
Newsroom and
follow us on 
LinkedInFacebook and Twitter.

 


 


 

 

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

 

Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

 


InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

 

 

(Registrant)

 

 

 

 

By:


/s/ F. Cuttell

 

Name:

F.
CUTTELL

 

Title:

ASSISTANT
COMPANY SECRETARY

 

 

 

 

Date:


04 March 2021