Tour operator First Choice Holidays said the recovery in its mainstream business had continued in recent weeks.

The Crawley-based group added its specialist holiday arm was also bouncing back and it was confident about the outcome for the full year.

First Choice has slashed capacity and axed 1,100 jobs to minimise the impact of the September 11 attacks in the United States on its profits.

The group suffered a downturn in business after the terrorist atrocities, with winter bookings from the UK and Ireland down three per cent.

In a statement ahead of its interim results, it re-iterated losses for the six months to April 30 were likely to be greater than a year ago.

But the improving trend noted at its annual meeting last month had continued.

At the meeting, the group said bookings had begun to pick up and were running significantly ahead of a year ago.

Analysts have pencilled in profits for the full-year of just over £73 million.

Roy Owens, leisure analyst at ING Charterhouse, said the trading statement had little bearing on his forecasts.

He said: "On balance, the share price should not do anything. I would have thought it might have gone up as things are moving in the right direction."

Brighton-based Epic issuing a trading statement showing a better than predicted performance.

The company said there had been an improvement in trading in the second six months of the financial year. Since the announcement of interim results on 5 February, sales had been ahead of expectations.

The online training specialist's sales to the government sector had increased with revenues being generated from the Department of Trade and Industry, Inland Revenue, Scottish Enterprise and the Welsh Development Agency.

Epic's share price rose 10p to 84p on the news.