Excluding the group's Britvic soft drinks division, hotels turnover fell by 2.6% to £377m (2003: £387m) and operating profit was flat at £76m. But these figures were impacted by the weakness of the dollar against stirling. In constant currency terms, hotels turnover was up by 3.5% and operating profit up by 8.2%.

The company said that the planned sales of its hotels were on track, but failed to announce any new transactions. The sale of 20 hotels in the Americas, valued at £505m, was 'well advanced', while the other planned sales were making 'encouraging progress'.

InterContintal put 107 hotels, worth £1.9b, on the market earlier this year. They include 75 hotels in the UK, worth £1.1b.Chairman and interim chief executive David Webster said: 'Trading was mixed with the Americas and Asia Pacific delivering another solid quarter of growth, whilst Continental Europe experienced weak demand in certain markets.'