The Jurys Doyle hotel group has demonstrated the benefits of the merger of the Republic's two biggest hotel groups, reporting a strong trading performance in the six months to the end of October.

The enlarged hotel group, which controls 10 per cent of the hotel rooms in the Republic, has posted a 64 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to €27.8 million (£21.9 million) and insists it is well positioned to add further acquisitions, particularly in Britain.

Announcing interim figures yesterday, managing director Mr Peter Malone said they showed that the integration of the Jurys and Doyle groups had bedded down extremely well, with its hotels in Ireland, Britain and the US all making a strong contribution.

"The strategic rationale of the Doyle acquisition is borne out by the strong performance of all our hotels and inns and the benefits accruing from economies of scale" he said.

Turnover rose by 97 per cent to €109.5 million (£86.2 million), with some 60 per cent accounted for by the Jurys group. Earnings per share increased by 21 per cent to 38.4 cents. On the back of the half-year out-turn, shareholders will be paid a dividend of 6.03 cents per share which will be paid on February 18th.

Jurys took over the Doyle hotel group in May 1999, paying €238.4 million in cash and new shares to the Doyle family. The deal gave the group an entire range of three, four and five-star hotels, as well as hotels in London and the US.

Mr Malone said acquisitions were still very important and the group was now firmly focussed on seeking expansion opportunities in Britain.

The group had now reached its optimum size in the Republic and would ultimately like to bring its British operations up to the scale of those in the Republic. It would consider buying another hotel in the London area but is also actively considering sites in cities such as Coventry, Birmingham and Newcastle to build new inns.

In the meantime, the group is refurbishing its flagship Berkeley Court hotel in Dublin and the Westbury at a cost of £1.8 million (€2.3 million) and £700,000 respectively. The group has also recently opened a new central reservations office in Dublin which allows it to effectively utilise its capacity. Mr Malone said trading had remained strong in the second half across all of its hotels with a good business mix, across corporate, leisure and tourism sectors.