Millennium & Copthorne’s pre-tax profits almost halved in the first six months of the year as bookings from the financial services and conferences sector collapsed with its Singapore hotels particularly hard hit.

The hotel group posted pre-tax profits of £30.5m ($51.1m) in the first half of 2009, down from £58.4m the previous year. Numbers were hit as guests spent less time at M&C hotels with revenue per available room (RevPar) down 19.8 per cent on a constant currency basis to £51.86.