Hotels group De Vere is tentatively upbeat for the coming months as sales continue to nudge ahead.

De Vere, which owns Brighton's Grand hotel and hosted golf's Ryder Cup at the Belfry in September, said the financial year had started well, with group turnover in the last eight weeks up 7.4 per cent.

Like-for-like revenue per room, a key industry measurement, was also ahead. It rose 3.7 per cent at the four and five-star De Vere Hotels and 2.3 per cent at the mid-market Village Hotels and Leisure Clubs.

Chairman Peter Daresbury said: "The outlook is still uncertain with the extent and timing of our recovery remaining difficult to predict.

"However, we have confidence that our brands will continue to outperform the market."

De Vere was rocked as the weak economic climate and US terror attacks curtailed business and leisure travel.

It suffered an additional blow when last year's Ryder Cup, due to be held at the Belfry near Birmingham, was postponed for a year because of September 11.

But today it said turnover in the year to September 29 had pushed ahead 7.3 per cent to £293.9 million, helped by the rescheduled event, which Mr Daresbury said was one of the highlights of the year.

Operating profits rose 4.2 per cent to £51.9 million after like-for-like room revenue improved 1.4 per cent at De Vere Hotels and by 0.7 per cent at Village Hotels and Leisure Clubs. This compares with a 2.9 per cent decline in the provincial UK market.

De Vere said the result had been achieved by targeting the leisure market when business sales fell away and taking a resilient stance on pricing.

The group was further helped by its health club chain Greens moving into profit for the first time.

Operating profits at drinks division G&J Greenall also rose, by 6.5 per cent to £1.9 million. The arm distils own-label spirits for supermarkets as well as Bombay Sapphire gin.