Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) has seen its shares soar following its prediction that business would pick up sharply during the course of the year - after what it described as 'the most challenging period in our history'.

In the year to 31 December M&C suffered a collapse in pre-tax profits from £129.1m to £54.2 million from turnover down from £690.9m to £594.6m

On a like-for-like basis, room occupancy across its 91 hotels in 17 countries fell from 70.4 per cent to 65 per cent and the average room rate declined from £71.67 to £69.82.

However M&C's chair, Kwek Leng Beng, said the group was seeing significant volume improvement in New York and some improvement in London, although he conceded that rates in both markets remain under pressure. 'Six months on [from September 11] we are very confident the market has taken a turn for the better.'

John Wilson, chief executive, said the pace of recovery had exceeded expectations and led the group to rehire 100 staff out of a total of 500 laid off.