HOLIDAY parks operator Parkdean is looking forward to a fruitful summer on the back of an 11.5 per cent rise in advance bookings.

The next six months is a key trading period for the firm and was described by the company's managing director John Waterworth as the "mainstay of the business".

He said: "We are looking forward to that with a good degree of confidence."

The Newcastle firm has developed well on the back of flotation on the Alternative Investment Market.

The money raised enabled Parkdean to pay off venture capitalists.

Last month Parkdean added another two holiday parks in Cornwall to its portfolio, taking the total number to 14, in a £13.1m acquisition.

The group said yesterday that the White Acres park, near Newquay, and Sea Acres, on the Lizard Peninsula, were seeing "highly satisfactory" bookings.

Pre-tax losses narrowed by 29 per cent to £3.8m in the six months to April 25.

Parkdean traditionally makes a loss in the first half, which includes the winter months, offset against summer profits. Last year the group made full-year pre-tax profits of £3.4m.

Parkdean experienced a shift away from indirect sales with about 85 per cent of its holidays now being sold by its telesales operation.

Parkdean's flotation came nine years after chairman Graham Wilson took its predecessor Parkdean Leisure to the market.

Leisure conglomerate Vardon bought the business two years later and broke it up, allowing the chairman to take charge of the holiday parks.