Jurys Doyle Hotel Group performed strongly despite the setback to trade caused by foot-and-mouth disease earlier in the year.

Turnover rose 15 per cent to €252.15 million (£198.44 million) and pre-tax profit was up 11.3 per cent at €55.71 million for the year to April 30th, 2000.

The results met with a positive response in the stock market and the hotel chain's share price jumped 70 cents to €9.50 yesterday.

Chief executive Mr Pat McCann said he was "optimistically confident" of bookings going forward and expected the trends experienced in May and early June to continue.

"Anecdotal evidence from the carriers in Ireland, the UK and the US would indicate that there appears to be a pick-up in business going forward," he said.

Outgoing financial director Mr Barry Sheehan said the total impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis in Britain and Ireland meant revenue was down approximately €7-€8 million overall.

"We dropped bookings but we were able to recoup a lot of what would have been lost very quickly," he said. Mr Sheehan will be replaced as financial director by Mr Paul MacQuillan, financial director of United Drug Plc in August.

Mr McCann said the group's three Washington D.C. hotels, which benefit largely from government business, proved very important in the last two months of the financial year as the foot-and-mouth fallout hit others segments. The US hotels contributed 12 per cent to group profits.

He said the economic downturn in the US did not generally affect corporate traffic but there was a noticeable fall-off in technology sector business.

"A lot of our bookings are related to banking and other industries and they have performed very well.

"By and large it balances out and we feel that when we come in to the autumn period we will see further pick-up in that."

Britain now accounts for 43 per cent of group profits with

2,873 rooms out of a group total of 6,389, Mr McCann said.