Churchill China to beat expectation after strong Christmas

AIM-listed Churchill China said it expected to exceed expectations after a strong performance toward the end of the year. The pre-Chrismas period saw a strong performance from the company's dominant Hospitality business, leading the board to expect its operating performance for the year would be "significantly ahead" of 2012.House broker N+1 Singer said by all accounts the Hospitality division's strong end to the year was driven largely by positive UK momentum and a pleasing European showing. The broker said it understood Hospitality grew sales by double digits in 2013 versus its own 8% growth forecasts, with the division reaping the benefit of various new product development initiatives in the last 18-24 months, resource strengthening and an improving consumer backdrop. The Retail division's performance was heard to be "broadly satisfactory", according to Singer, but this arm was now less than 15% of divisional earnings.Shares in CHH were up 15.6% to 462.5p by 11:00 on Friday.OH