Strong demand in London, New York boosts hotelier M&C's profit

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Plc (LSE: MLC.L - news) (M&C) reported a 12.5 percent rise in first-half profit, helped by stronger demand at its hotels in London and Singapore and sterling's weakness.

The operator of the Millennium, Grand Millennium, Copthorne and Kingsgate hotels said pretax profit rose to 63 million pounds ($83 million) in the six months ended June 30, up from 56 million pounds a year ago.

M&C, majority-owned by Singaporean businessman Kwek Leng Beng's property company, also said revenue per available room, a key industry measure, rose 4.9 percent in constant currency. ($1 = 0.7611 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru. Editing by Jane Merriman)