(Adds CEO comments, details)
By Esha Vaish
Aug 3 (Reuters) - Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Plc said Islamist attacks in continental Europe and Britain's voteto leave the European Union had added to its problems after adisappointing performance in the first half of the year.
The company could also delay or reduce planned refurbishmentwork at its Millennium Hotels in the upmarket London areas ofMayfair and Knightsbridge as it looks to manage costs moreclosely.
M&C's hotels in major cities such as Paris and London hadexperienced a significant slowdown in the three months to June30, Chief Executive Aloysius Lee said, as attacks in Europedeterred travellers. Uncertainty surrounding Britain's EU voteon June 23 had also reduced business travel.
"Even after Brexit, we have five major incidents in Europeand that has had a big impact on the tourism market... There areno signs of improvement in these gateway cities in the shortterm," Lee said.
The operator of the Millennium, Grand Millennium, Copthorneand Kingsgate hotels would also look to reduce staff costs bycombining roles, but had not yet seen the need to cut jobs.
It could cut costs by reducing work on its London hotels.
"We're reviewing the refurbishment schedules... and we willmake sure that our spending is prudent to our forecast ofdifficult times ahead," he added.
M&C, which runs over 100 luxury hotels across 60 locations,has focused on expansion into what it terms "gateway cities"such as Singapore, London and New York.
Majority owned by Kwek Leng Beng's Singapore-based propertycompany City Developments Ltd, M&C said it would pay anunchanged interim dividend of 2.08 pence per share, but addedthat its final dividend was under review.
Its shares fell 2.5 percent to 410.6 pence by 1145 GMT.
Traditional hoteliers are already under threat fromcompanies like Airbnb, which offer travellers access toshort-term apartment or home rentals.
M&C reported a 21.7 percent fall in operating profit fell to47 million pounds ($63 million) for the six months ended June30.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry measure,fell 4.2 percent to 67.91 pounds in constant currency. LondonRevPAR fell 5.3 percent, compared with 0.5 percent growth acrossthe rest of Europe.
Lee said that any gains expected due to the fall in sterlingfollowing the Brexit vote would be offset by lower demand. ($1 = 0.7514 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by GopakumarWarrier and Keith Weir)
