CHOICE HOTELS EUROPE has ended a run of five consecutive loss-making years with a pre-tax profit for 2004 of ”600,000. In 2003 it made a ”1.9m loss. Choice operates 56 owned, leased or managed hotels in the UK, France, Germany and Belgium. It also holds the master franchise for Choice Hotels brands across Europe, adding another 350 franchisees in 11 countries. Occupancy in the UK in 2004 was up by 1.5% to 65%. The overall UK performance was affected by the group seeing no lift in food revenues. In August, Choice raised just over ”5m for refurbishments and completed a programme of disposals designed to restructure its balance sheet.
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