Bass profits boosted by purchase of ICH
Bass was upbeat about business performance last week after announcing a 62% rise in operating profits in its hotel division, following the integration of Inter-Continental Hotels (ICH).
ICH, which was bought by Bass last year for £1.8b, accounted for £249m of the group's turnover of £2.2b for the half year. Overall turnover rose 14.5%.
Operating profit for Bass Hotels & Resorts for the period was £134.3m, with ICH contributing £51.8m.
Chairman Sir Ian Prosser said the group's 2,700 hotels, including the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express chains, performed well, although UK hotels did not fare as well as those in France and Germany.
Occupancy across Europe, excluding ICH, increased from 63.3% to 63.5%. Overall occupancy for ICH edged up half a percentage point to 61%.
Group pre-tax profits, taking out exceptional disposal gains of £230m and £34m from discontinued operations in the previous year, increased by just £4m.
The company's retail leisure division, which includes pub-restaurants Harvesters and Vintage Inns, increased operating profit by 6.8% to £141m. Sales per outlet grew by 3.6%.