TORONTO (Reuters) - Fairmont Hotels, which runs luxury hotels worldwide, reported a 28 percent rise in fourth-quarter revenues on Thursday but net profit was down from the year-before quarter, when the company posted a special gain.

Fairmont, whose more than 80 hotels and resorts include the Fairmont Hamilton and Southampton Princess Hotels in Bermuda, posted net income of $11 million, or 14 cents a share, down from $49 million, or 63 cents a share.

Last year's fourth quarter included a one-time tax recovery gain of $51.4 million resulting from the spin-off of Fairmont from conglomerate Canadian Pacific Ltd., which was broken up.

Thirteen analysts polled by Thomson First Call had, on average, forecast net earnings of 14 cents a share.

Fairmont's operating income, however, rose more than two times to $32.8 million from $14.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The operating income, or EBITDA, does not include taxes, depreciation and amortisation costs.

Fairmont's shares rose nearly three percent, or 95 Canadian cents, to C$33.73 in Toronto on Thursday morning. In New York, they climbed 2.2 percent, or 48 cents, to $21.97.

Chief executive William Fatt said: "Fairmont continues to benefit from our balanced customer mix and geographic diversity. (Our) strength in the leisure segment has helped mitigate the effect of prolonged weakness in corporate demand."

Revenue rose to $125.6 million during the quarter from $97.7 million in the year-earlier period.

Fairmont, along with Canadian luxury hotelier Four Seasons has suffered from the fallout of the September 11 attacks in the United States, which put a damper on tourism and sent the global economy into a tailspin. Individuals have started to travel again, but corporations show no signs of reviving their travel budgets.

During the fourth quarter, Fairmont's revenue per available room - a gauge of profitability for hotel companies - rose 12.3 percent to $88.71. Occupancy rates rose 6.3 percent to 55 percent from 48.7 percent during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2001.

Fairmont said its two Bermuda properties showed significant improvement with combined RevPAR increases of 42.3 percent. The hotels were not included in the comparable portfolio due to the impact of significant renovations in 2001.

Fairmont said the company's revenue growth from its fully-owned hotels of 5.5 percent was largely due to improved performance at the Bermuda hotels which were not included in last year's figures.

"Superior performance at the renovated hotels not included in the comparable set, particularly the two Bermuda properties, was the main contributor to this growth," the company said, adding that RevPAR from the comparable hotels fell 1.3 percent.

"The current economic environment continues to present challenges that we expect to persist throughout 2003," Fatt said in a statement. "With few signs of an overall US economic recovery, we are not anticipating an improvement in business travel in 2003."

He said Fairmont expects earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortisation to be between $215 million and $225 million in 2003. Last year, EBITDA was $198.3 million.