Chilled and frozen food supplier Brake Bros said it was still seeing the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

While sales in most areas had been satisfactory in November and December, Brake Bros said the airline catering and hotel sectors remained weak.

Shares in the group fell three per cent to 527.5p as it warned it was still too early to predict when these sectors would recover.

The company has endured a torrid time since the United States attacks, which compounded the impact of the economic slowdown on its sales.

In November, the group warned profits for 2001 would be materially below expectations if poor trading conditions continued to the end of December.

Brake Bros said sales in November and December, the two most important months of its year, were in line with its expectations outlined two months ago.

Sales for the year as a whole, including acquisitions, were up 22 per cent on 2000 at almost £1.38 billion. Like-for-like sales growth was three per cent.

Chief executive Ian Player, who bought £20,000 worth of shares in the group last week, said despite the tough trading conditions he was confident of satisfactory progress this year.