THE North-East's largest bar and nightclub operator, Ultimate Leisure, has reassured investors by predicting better-than-expected half-year profits after buoyant sales during Christmas.

The company, which employs more than 1,000 staff in the UK, forecast that pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of last month would not be less than £4.2m - an increase of about 28 per cent on the corresponding trading period last year.

Finance director Craig Bell said: "It has been a strange six months for the group; we were trading well in the first period and then December came along and we were pleasantly surprised with the level of sales.

"Across the board this year, we found Christmas trading tended to started in the first week of December, rather than around the 15th as it usually does, which goes some way to explaining our forecast rise in profits."

With 23 sites and several more in development, Ultimate recently reported a 29 per cent rise in turnover to £26.5m and a 31 per cent rise in profit to £5.2m for the first six months of last year.