Bass has announced trading in line with expectations for the first sixteen weeks of 2001, in a trading update issued today.

The company says its hotel division has continued to achieve strong profits growth, particularly in Europe. The leisure retail division is reported to have traded well over the Christmas period and benefited from high returns from branded conversions. Bass says its Hotels & Resorts sector has benefited from the global distribution of its hotels and the strength of its portfolio of mid-scale and up-scale brands.

Despire concerns over economic slowdown, the company says its North American hotel market has continued to grow. Bass now has 2,279 midscale hotels in the Americas with 314,549 rooms, compared to 2,154 hotels and 305,503 rooms a year ago. After yesterday's announcement of the sale of its interests in 988 pubs for £625m, Bass says its retained estate consists of over 2,000 restaurants, bars and pubs with average weekly takes of over £13,000.