INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP (IHG) Q4 2019 Earnings Call Transcript

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP (IHG) Q4 2019 Earnings Call Transcript

[Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand over to your host for today's call, Keith Barr, the Chief Executive Officer; Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, Chief Financial Officer; Heather Wood, SVP, Group Financial Controller and Investor Relations.. I am Heather Wood, Group Financial Controller and I'm joined this morning by Keith Barr, our Chief Executive Officer and Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, our Chief Financial Officer.. In a moment, I'll talk about how we are executing against our strategic initiatives and accelerating growth, and Paul will take you through our financial performance in 2019.. Having led the China business and lived there for a number of years, it's tough to see the impact this outbreak has had on so many people's lives.. Our net system size growth of 5.6% was our strongest in over a decade, driven by a record number of room openings in the year.. Underlying revenue from the fee business grew 2% and operating profit grew 5% driven by growth in our net system size and disciplined cost control.. We added 65,000 new rooms to the system, a record level of openings.. We signed 98,000 rooms, taking our total pipeline to 283,000 rooms with 40% currently under construction.. We've also shown total