Revpar up for Bass

Bass had an "excellent" start to its current financial year, group chairman Sir Ian Prosser said in a trading update last week.

The group's Inter-Continental hotels saw revenue per available room (revpar) increase by 10.1% in Europe and 5.2% in North America between October and December.

Across the whole Inter-Continental chain, revpar grew by 9.7% in the period. In North America, Holiday Inn's revpar was up by 4.4% and Crowne Plaza's by 3.2%. Revpar at Holiday Inn Express grew by 7.1%.

Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza also showed strong growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Revpar in this region was up by 6.2% for Holiday Inn and 2.8% for Crowne Plaza.

In its pubs and restaurants, Bass reported food sales up by 9.8% and drinks sales up by 4.1%.

These figures do not include the pubs Bass bought from Allied Domecq in October. The group said these were trading in line with targets and were being integrated into the company's existing pub business.