The Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Group, which owns both the Hamilton and Southampton Princesses said yesterday that its first quarter results significantly surpassed expectations and reflected better business trends than anticipated.

But in a Press released the company added that due to "substantial" one-off charges, the net income and earnings per share were not considered by management to be comparable to the year before.

And the report also pointed to the major renovations of the two Bermuda properties and said that they had been excluded in the revenue per room statistics because of the works.

"We are pleased with our EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) and EPS (earnings per share) performance in the first quarter of 2002, exceeding the company's previous quarterly guidance. Operating results surpassed expectations as a result of a sharper than anticipated recovery in travel volumes. Expenses were contained based on our original expectation of lower business levels in the first quarter," said William R. Fatt, Chief Executive Officer of FHR.

"Revenue per available room at our owned properties declined by 7.1 percent while revenue per available room at Fairmont managed hotels, which include a significant number of U.S. city centre hotels, declined by 10.2 percent, both ahead of published industry results.

"Based on these positive first quarter results and our current outlook, we believe it is now appropriate to increase modestly our previous EBITDA and EPS guidance for 2002."

The company reported revenues of $126.7 million for the quarter, down 5.8 percent from $134.5 million last year. EBITDA was $38.1 million for the quarter compared to $37.8 million in the same period in 2001. The company said these figures benefited from approximately $3.7 million in cost reductions that are not likely to be repeated.