Hotel group to raise £5m for development

CHE Group, operator and master franchisor of the Comfort, Sleep, Quality and Clarion hotel brands in Europe, is to raise more than £5m for development.

The money, raised by selling more than 14 million new shares to existing shareholders, will be used as follows:

• £1.7m to buy the leaseholds of six more Sleep Inn hotels
• £2.3m to add air conditioning to some 1,000 bedrooms at its Quality hotels
• £1m to upgrade the meeting and conference facilities at six Quality hotels

The company said like-for-like sales in the year to 31 December 2003 had been marginally ahead of the previous year, despite the impact of factors such as the Iraq war.

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	Sleep Inn: on the expansion trail

It added that revenues had grown steadily in the first three months of 2004 and that this had continued in the three months to the end of June. CHE said: "The group's financial and trading prospects are expected to improve further as a result of the recovery in the general economic and political climate, increased critical mass and better product offering, franchise expansion and increased management of hotels from third parties." CHE operates 57 hotels in the UK, France, Germany and Belgium. It also holds the master franchise to the Comfort, Sleep, Quality and Clarion hotel brands for the UK and some of continental Europe, under which a further 313 hotels are operated by third parties. Buy this week's *Caterer* magazine for more industry news and analysis