In an AGM statement dated 6 May, hotel group, Jurys Doyle, reported first quarter trading to the end of March continuing to be affected by global economic and political worries.

The group's Washington hotels also had to contend with particularly severe winter weather.Nonetheless, overall group occupancy rates were in line with those for the same period last year and RevPar in each of the company's Irish, UK and US divisions improved. Pre-tax profits for the quarter were slightly up on those of last year.

Trading in recent weeks has, however, been affected by the situation in the Middle East, by worries over the SARS virus and by continued concerns over the world's economy and Jurys feels that trading conditions are likely to remain challenging for the immediate future.As a result, the company expects pre-tax profits for the half year to 30 June to be slightly lower than the comparable period last year and has warned that if the trends currently being experienced continue, profits for the second half could also be adversely affected.

Since the beginning of the year, a number of developments have taken place at the group.Construction work has started on the new 253-bedroom Jurys Inn Parnell Street in Dublin and in February plans were revealed for a new 340-bedroom hotel at Heathrow airport, being the fourth Jurys Inn in the London area.

Jurys Inn Newcastle opened on 14 February and the company has said it is greatly encouraged by its performance to date which is well ahead of expectations.Finally, the 3-star, 90-bedroom Jurys Green Isle in Dublin has been sold for EUR11m cash, realising a profit on disposal - to be used to finance the company's development programme - of over EUR700,000.

By the end of the year, in addition to the new Jurys Hotel in Boston, the group plans to open a further four Jurys Inns in the UK and one in Dublin. Details: www.jurysdoyle.com