De Vere chief executive Paul Dermody is leaving the company after nearly 40 years, it was announced last week.
His impending departure was made public when the group's interim results were announced, but no date was given. "There's a lot of emotion involved," he said of his decision.
The process of finding Dermody's successor is already in motion and it is understood both external and internal candidates are being interviewed. Analysts said there were no obvious candidates for the role although Ian Burke, former chief executive of Thistle Hotels, and Morris Kelly, of leisure company Esporta, have been tipped as potential contenders.
Dermody said he was unlikely to move to another full-time position but would consider non-executive directorate roles either in or out of the hotel industry.
De Vere's interim results, announced last week, revealed a mediocre performance for the hotels and leisure group. Overall company turnover was up by 7.2% to £150m, but profits were largely wiped out after a £9.3m VAT charge. Pre-tax profits before this exceptional charge stood at £15m, down by 5.4% on last year.
In the six months to 30 March 2003, turnover for De Vere Hotels rose by 2.5% to £86.2m. Like-for-like average achieved room rates also grew by 2.7%, but occupancy was down by two percentage points.
This pattern was mirrored by the company's Village Hotels brand, which also saw an increase in turnover, up by 15.1% to £36.5m, with average achieved room rates rising by 2.3% to £51.58m. Like-for-like occupancy also increased marginally, by 0.7 percentage points to 79.3%.