Hilton Group, the hotels and betting company, today said it expected July’s London bombings to have a "short term" impact as it recorded a modest increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to June despite a steep fall in profits at its British hotels.

Brian Wallace, finance director and deputy group chief executive told Times Online that the market had shown "remarkable resilience" in the wake of the July bombings but added that figures had been hit as groups cancelled bookings after the attacks.

"There were, inevitably, cancellations after the July bombings and occupancy rates for the month in London were down between 2 and 3 per cent," he said.

David Michels, Hilton’s chief executive, said that looking forward, the trends at both Ladbrokes, the group’s betting business, and Hilton, the hotels arm, remained positive.

Mr Wallace added that the disposal of 18 hotels put up for sale last month was "progressing well".

Hilton expects to raise up to £400 million from the sales in a market supported by strong interest from private equity firms. It hopes to retain management of the hotels.

Mr Wallace said: "The market has never been stronger and we're happy to be able to realise the value of these properties at these levels."

However, investors were disappointed at a lack of news on further disposals or plans to return cash to shareholders, sending the stock sharply lower in morning trade.

Hilton was the worst performing blue-chip in early deals, down 5.5p at 300p. Merrill Lynch, the broker, reiterated its "neutral" stance on the stock and said although the numbers were in-line with consensus, they were shy of the upper end of its own forecasts.

Overall, underlying group pre-tax profits increased to £192.1 million from £191.3 million for the same period last year.

Disappointing performances from Hilton's British hotels, where profits were down 22.6 per cent to £30.1 million in the first half, and Ladbrokes were offset by a stronger numbers from the group's international hotels.

The hotels division increased operating profits by 10.7 per cent to £72.6 million after "healthy" growth in revenues per available room in all areas of the world, apart from the UK.

High occupancy levels in London were offset by more difficult trading elsewhere in the country and by a poor conference season. Five major hotels owned by the group showed a decline in revenues per available room, hitting UK profits.

Within the wider hotels division, Hilton said encouraging signs seen last year in both corporate and leisure continued into the first half. The improvement included a 43.4 per cent hike in profits in the Americas to £10.9 million.

Ladbrokes saw operating profits fall by 6 per cent to £143.6 million on the back of unfavourable results at major sporting events including Aintree and Epsom, as well as tough comparatives from last year’s European Football Championships.

The firm recently upped the stakes in the battle for the title of the UK’s biggest bookmaker when it announced it was buying 141 family-run betting shops.

The £76 million deal for the Welsh chain Jack Brown came after rival William Hill seized top spot with the purchase of 624 shops from Stanley Leisure.

Ladbrokes now has 2,266 shops in the UK and Ireland, as well as outlets in Belgium.

The half-year dividend rose to 3.8p a share from 3.6p.

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