HOTELS group De Vere warned of uncertain times ahead despite reporting a resilient performance in recent weeks.

In the past nine weeks, group turnover was up 12.1 per cent with a 2.7 per cent like-for-like increase in revenue per available room across its hotels.

Chairman Peter Daresbury said the rise was "encouraging" and added he was confident the quality of the business would underpin its long-term growth.

De Vere, which owns Slaley Hall, in Northumberland, has been rocked by the impact of the foot-and-mouth disease, and the September 11 atrocities, which saw the cancellation of the Ryder Cup, which was to be held at the Belfry, where the group has a hotel.

Despite the strong start to the current financial year, Mr Daresbury said: "Trading conditions are likely to remain uncertain in the short term and will primarily depend on the performance of the UK economy."

Results for the full-year to September 30, showed operating profits only inched ahead from £46.5m to £47.2m.

Turnover at the group's continuing operations rose 17.7 per cent to £273.8m.

De Vere sold its drinks business in March, meaning this only generated revenues for part of the year.

The group took a £49.9m loss on the disposal of Tavern and after taking this into account it made a bottom-line pre-tax loss of £18.1m. This compares with a profit of £30.7m the year before.

Shareholders will receive a total dividend of 10.6p per share, up on last year's payout of 10p.