Doyles Hotel Group has blamed the Irish economy for a drop in profits which overshadowed otherwise strong results from the group’s UK properties.

Reporting figures for the six months ended 30 June, the company said pre-tax profits fell 14 per cent from E25.2m (£17m) in 2003 to E22.1m (£15m) in 2004.

The drop in profit came in spite of a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in trading profits in Jurys London hotels, which benefited from the hospitality sector’s recovery in the UK.

Richard Hooper, chair, said: “The satisfactory performance in the first half of 2004 – with operating profits up 12.8 per cent on the corresponding period in 2003 – would have been even better but for a business environment in our Irish four-star hotel operations which remained subdued during the first half.

“Trading profits at our Irish hotels declined by 24 per cent compared to the first half of 2003 while our UK hotel group reported solid growth in trading profits of 13 per cent against the same period last year.”

During the period, Jurys Doyle disposed of its 95-bedroom Limerick hotel, while opening two new UK hotels – in Leeds and Chelsea, London.