Three NY hotels contributed the most in boosting Millennium & Copthorne Hotels profits, by 45%.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels which is listed on the London Stock Exchange owns and/or operates over 90 hotels in 15 countries, including 19 hotels in North America. Pretax* profit for the year 2005, (until December 31, 2005) came to $134.7 million (£74.0 million) compared to $93.7 million (£51.2 million) the previous year.

Revenue was also up 8% to $1,083.7 million (£595.2 million) compared to 2004's revenue of $1,007.9 million (£551.0 million). Hotel operating profit also saw a 22% increase to $194.3 million (£106.7 million) from 2004's $159.9 million hotel operating profit (£87.4 million).

"In 2005, we delivered good earnings growth by utilizing our operating skills in an improving trading environment. We also used our real estate expertise and resources to derive further gains from our portfolio of assets. We have undoubtedly benefited from our twin strategy of both operating and owning hotels worldwide," said Mr. Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of M&C.

M&C chief executive, Tony Potter also cited the performances of the New York properties as a telling factor in this improved performance. The Millennium Broadway conducted an extensive renovation program which included the upgrading of its rooms and restoring the historic Hudson Theatre. The Millennium Broadway's renovated rooms feature an "East meets West" design concept with luxury bedding and state of the art entertainment systems such as flat screen high definition televisions. The Hudson Theatre's renovation discovered priceless Tiffany mosaics which were excavated and restored to their original luster. Bookings for meetings and weddings at the Broadway increased as a result of these improvements.

The Millennium UN Plaza and Millenium Hilton also posted gains in room occupancy levels.

"We've invested considerable sums of money into room refurbishment, particularly at the Millennium Broadway, where we are also updating the conference facilities and transforming our catering facilities under the stewardship of renowned executive chef, Sam DeMarco," said Sudheer Raghavan, president for Millennium Hotels and Resorts, the Americas.

The average New York room rate also increased to $235.65 in 2005 compared to $198.97 in 2004. In addition to that, strong growth was seen in Asia particularly at Millennium's Singaporean hotels and business at the group's five luxury London properties continues to improve.

In addition to this strong performance, M&C unveiled exciting developments that include the opening of the Millennium Hongqiao Shanghai in the summer of 2006, the group's first management contract in China. M&C also announced the opening of the Millennium Hotel Doha in Qatar in late 2006 and the construction of the Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok in Thailand which is scheduled to open in late 2007. The group also added the Coral Beach Diving Hotel in Egypt to its group of hotels in 2005.

*excluding other operating income and impairment