LONDON (ShareCast) - French hotel group Accor reported an 18.8 percent jump in 2011 operating income to top consensus estimates and said it was confident in a continuation of the recovery for 2012.

Specifically, last year’s EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) hit €530m, compared to the €524m consensus and at the top of the company’s own forecast range.

Looking forward, the second largest hotel chain in Europe said it was “confident as it moves into 2012” thanks to favourable drivers for this year in “markets like France, Germany (calendar of fairs), the United Kingdom (Olympic Games), Eastern Europe (European Football Championship), Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.”

In this context, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Denis Hennequin considers the group to be in “excellent financial health” which allowed the company to raise its dividend to no less than €1.15 per share, compared to the prior year’s €0.62 and consensus expectations of €0.63.

Accor was one of the best performing stocks in Paris this morning, trading up 4.03% at €27.25.

JM

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