Jurys Doyle management is continuing to work on plans to grow its inns business in Britain and central Europe while streamlining its Irish hotels business, chief executive Pat McCann said yesterday.
He dismissed recent rumours that management was considering a buyout of the inns division, saying it was concentrating on running the company.
"Bluntly put, we have had no discussions with anybody about an MBO, none whatsoever, and won't even consider it at the moment," Mr McCann said.
"We have a dual strategy which is inns-led with four-star hotels as the supporting cast, but they have to be efficient and they have to be producing and that is what we are attempting to do in terms of the reorganisation, particularly of the Irish portfolio."
Jurys announced recently that it planned to sell its five-star Berkeley Court Hotel as well as the Montrose Hotel, although no decision has yet been taken as to whether the company will engage in a tender process or opt for a private treaty sale of the properties.
The disposals would leave it with just two four-star hotels in the capital, the Burlington and the Croke Park hotel, which is due to open on Thursday.
In addition to the Burlington - where Jurys is seeking wide-ranging work practice reforms that would see 120 jobs go out of a total of 500 before proceeding with an investment of up to €30 million to upgrade the hotel - Jurys will also retain the five-star Westbury Hotel on Dublin's Grafton Street. It also runs three inns at Christchuch, Custom House Quay and Parnell Street.
Meanwhile, the company sees opportunities to open between 15 and 20 new inns in Britain, where it already has 13 inns up and running and a further four under construction, while it is also looking at expanding into central and eastern Europe.
"We are looking at that corridor of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland and up into the Baltics. We feel that there is opportunity there for the inns," Mr McCann said.
He was speaking as Jurys reported first-half results that fell short of market expectations, showing a rise of nearly 8 per cent in pre-tax profit to €23.7 million. The company will pay an interim dividend of 8.82 cent per share, an increase of 5 per cent.
A strong performance from the group's inns business, allied to good results from its US and British hotels business, were behind the near 12 per cent increase in sales to €150.9 million. However, trading at the company's four-star hotels in Dublin remained disappointing.
Mr McCann said the four-star properties were being squeezed by "flat revenues and increasing costs and, as a result, we are underperforming vis-à-vis what is happening in London and in the US in terms of the hotel product."
However, he is more upbeat about the second half, following a positive performance in the Dublin market in July and August and into September.
"While the results won't be sparkling, it's certainly much more positive than it was in the first half," he said.
Despite a slower-than-expected start at the company's new inns at Heathrow Airport and Dublin's Parnell Street, the inns division continues to perform strongly with a 21 per cent rise in operating profit.
The latest addition to the stable, in Southampton, has had "a flying start" since it opened in May, Mr McCann said, while Jurys is due to open another new inn, in Nottingham, next week, followed by further inns in Milton Keynes, Liverpool and Brighton in the next two years.
Jurys also announced plans for a new 229-room inn in Plymouth, which is due to open in 2007.
The terror attacks in London had some impact on the group's operations in July but they have since recovered.
As part of its changeover to new international accounting standards, Jurys revalued its properties, which resulted in a surplus of €128.2 million, or €2.03 per share, on the group's balance sheet.
