Ultimate Leisure says smoking ban no problem

Ultimate Leisure, a bar and nightclub group, have reported a 1 per cent rise in profits and said July's smoking ban in England has had little impact so far.

The company also said it would wait until the difficult credit market conditions take their toll on deal prices before making any more acquisitions.

The firm, which runs the Blu Bambu nightclubs in Newcastle and Sunderland and the Living Room and Prohibition chain of bars, reported a 1 percent rise in like-for-like sales for the year, while pretax profit fell more than 73 percent to 0.4 million pounds as it spent money on revamping its bars.