Ryan reports 4% profits rise

Ireland-based Ryan Hotels, which is planning a change of name to the Gresham Hotel Group, saw profits before tax rise by 4% to €9.3m during the year to 25 January. Turnover was up by 21% to €56.3m. Occupancy increased by one percentage point to 81%, with room yield up by 5%. Ryan said the results reflected a strong performance from its city centre hotels, particularly in Dublin and on the Continent. Its hotels in Cork and London were completely refurbished during the year. The Metropole in Cork also had a revamp. The name-change to Gresham and a splitting of the group into four-star hotels under the Gresham name and three-star hotels under the Ryan banner is planned for June, subject to shareholder approval. The group said it was still looking at acquisitions, particularly in city centres, but had been unable to find suitable hotels at the right price. Trading at its UK and Irish hotels during the 2001 financial year had been affected by foot-and-mouth, Ryan said. "In Ireland, our city centre locations have been affected with the cancellation of major sporting fixtures, conferences and festivals. However, these are generally maintaining occupancy levels, albeit at a lower yield." Most badly affected by movement restrictions were its hotels on the west coast of Ireland. Ryan said it expected to recover some of the lost ground once restrictions were lifted. It predicted that the effects of foot-and-mouth would be "relatively short-term". It said the limited effect was due to operating a balanced portfolio of hotels, spread across different markets and regions.