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(August 2009) posted on Thu Aug 27, 2009 EDT

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Accor is considering separating its hotel and prepaid services business units into independent companies. The Paris-based firm made that announcement in its first-half earnings release for 2009, in which it reported revenues of $4.8 billion (3.4 billion euros), a 9.3 percent drop from a year earlier, and a net loss of $230 million (150 million euros).

 "Given the depth and speed of the changes ahead, the transformation and development of the company's two core businesses will be stepped up," the company said in a statement. "As part of this process, the board of directors has approved chairman and ceo Gilles Pelisson's recommendation to conduct a review of the potential benefits of demerging the two businesses into two independent companies, each with their own strategy and resources for growth."

Accor's hotel operations include the Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands, representing 4,000 hotels and nearly 500,000 rooms in 90 countries. It services operations include employee and constituent benefits, rewards and incentives, and expense management for 32 million people in 40 countries.

During the first half of the year, revenues for the hotels group fell by 11.4 percent from a year earlier - due in large part to a sluggish performance by its U.S. hotels - while its prepaid services unit experienced a 5.7 percent increase in revenue.