Jurys Doyle Hotel Group posted a 7.8 per cent rise in first half pre-tax profit yesterday and said it expected to deliver further growth this year despite a disappointing performance at its four-star Dublin hotels.
The company - which runs the Jurys Inn hotel on Broad Street - said trading in the combined Jurys Hotels division in the UK and the United States and across the combined Jurys Inns division in Ireland and the UK continued to be satisfactory.
Jurys, the centre of intense bid speculation that has boosted its shares more than 40 per cent since an initial approach in May, said pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June rose to almost 23 . 7 million euros (£16 million).
That came on the back of an 11.8 per cent jump in turnover to 150.9 million euros (£102.1 million) and resulted in a five per cent increase in the company's interim dividend to 8.82 euro cents per share.
On a possible takeover of the group, Jurys said it had not received any approaches, other than proposals received from Precinct Investments in July.
On August 31, Precinct dropped plans to make an offer stating concerns over the share price. Precinct had proposed an improved 17.50 euros per share for Jurys.
Jurys said it had been prepared to accept the increased offer, up from Precinct's previous proposal of 16.50, but withdrew its recommendation after Anglo Irish Bank pulled its financial backing for Precinct's bid.
Jurys repeated that before the end of the year it may seek approval from shareholders to make a "significant" cash pay out to them once it had completed asset disposals.
