Millennium is on its marks as numbers soar

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Figures out today suggest it's on track to have a strong Games - its hotels are already popular with tourists and business travellers.

For the year to December, profits jumped 50% to £193.3 million, well ahead of City forecasts of £159.6 million. Panmure Gordon, more than a little off the pace, was expecting something nearer £144.5 million. Profits were helped by the sale and lease-back of Studio M to CDL Hospitality Trusts REIT which added £17.4 million.

In response M&C is raising its full-year dividend by two-thirds to 16.5p.

Revenue per available room - or RevPAR, one of the key measures in the hotel trade - increased by 6% to £64.81. Like-for-like group RevPAR rose by 5.5%, with London RevPAR increasing 8.8% and 6.1% growth being seen in both Singapore and New York.

Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said: "Our strategy was to maximise revenues from each hotel by achieving an optimal balance between occupancy and room rate."

Total revenue rose by 10.3% from £743.7 million to £820.5 million.

InterContinental Hotels Group, the hotel behemoth which owns the Holiday Inn chain, said today it will create 3000 new jobs across its 275 UK hotels over the next three years, including more than 1100 new jobs this year. Holiday Inn is the official hotel provider to the Games.