Owners of Brighton's famous Grand hotel have warned of tough times after poor weather resulted in a downbeat Easter.

De Vere, whose portfolio includes De Vere Hotels and Greens health and fitness clubs, said the fall of Easter before the golf season had also hit sales.

The group's hotels business had seen a fall in demand in the leisure market but said a stronger corporate sector would prevent the need for price cuts.

In a statement last week, the group admitted: "We are likely to experience slower like-for-like sales growth in the second half."

Pre-tax profits before the 26 weeks to March 27 came in flat at £19.3 million.

The De Vere brand is already synonymous with leading UK golf courses such as The Belfry in Warwickshire, Slaley Hall in Northumberland and Loch Lomond.

In addition to its portfolio of 21 hotels, De Vere operates 15 health and fitness clubs trading as Greens, 13 Village leisure clubs and distillers G&J Greenall.

The group did a sale and manage-back deal on The Belfry during the half, which generated £186 million and allowed the group to return £183 million to shareholders.

De Vere reported a good like-for-like performance in all its its core business units.

Like-for-like pre-tax earnings at De Vere Hotels increased by 5.5 per cent to £14.8 million and at Village Hotels by 9.8 per cent to £10.9 million.

Like-for-like membership levels increased by 6.2 per cent in Village and by 5.4 per cent in Greens.

The group said it had signed a contract to manage a De Vere hotel in Spain - the first outside the UK - and said it had exclusive rights to manage a second.

Group like-for-like turnover rose two per cent and like-for-like operating profits increased by 7.7 per cent.

Bottom line profits increased to £76.4 million against £18.9 million last time due to £57.1 million of profits from property disposals.

Wednesday May 11, 2005