H World (HTHT) Completes Early Shareholder Payout Plan, Announces Larger Commitment
On August 17, H World Group (NASDAQ: HTHT) announced it had completed its $2 billion shareholder return commitment ahead of schedule and approved a new plan worth $2.5 billion over three years through dividends and buybacks. The move reflects strong financial performance in the second quarter, with sales rising by 10.8% to RMB 7.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA increasing by 20.0% to RMB 2.7 billion. The growth was driven primarily by franchised operations, where revenue rose 25.2%, indicating the effectiveness of H World's asset-light strategy. The company also expanded its hotel network significantly, reaching 13,539 hotels with a large pipeline for future openings and reporting an increase in gross merchandise value (GMV) to RMB 30.5 billion. Despite these gains, per-room revenue growth remained modest—blended average daily rate rose by just 2.6%, while blended revenue per available room increased only slightly at 1.1%. This suggests the company's performance is more driven by volume than pricing power.
Tickers: $HTHT
Topics: buyback program dividend strategy hotel industry performance shareholder returns