Jurys Doyle Hotel Group said today its first-half performance had held up well given difficult conditions and that it expected something similar for the second half.
Ireland's biggest hotel operator, which operates 30 properties, largely in Ireland and Britain, said that in the six months to end-June it had been affected by the global downturn, the impact of the SARS virus on long-haul air traffic, and the euro's strength.
The group reported pre-tax profit, before depreciation and a small profit on hotel disposals, of €29.66 million in the six months to end-June - a fall of 4.9 per cent on the same period of 2002.
Including the depreciation charge and the disposal profit, pre-tax profit was up 0.3 per cent to €25.24 million.
Turnover fell 6.5 per cent to €123.7 million - hit by lower euro-translated profit - while adjusted earnings per share rose to 34.2 cents from 33.7 cents previously.
"The numbers are broadly in line with expectations and perhaps even slightly ahead at the basic level," said Mr Shane Matthews, analyst at NCB Stockbrokers. "It's a pretty solid performance considering the backdrop and I would expect people to be reasonably happy."
Jurys Doyle declared an interim dividend of 8.14 cents per share, unchanged from the same period last year,