Rates per available room (revpar) collapsed in the wake of 11 September but as the return of travellers continues, comparatives are getting harder.Revpars in its London hotels, for example, were 15 per cent higher in July 2004 than July 2003, but in October they had dropped back to 4.2 per cent compared with October last year. The full recovery in the hotel sector is still to happen, but revpar is being driven by occupancy at this stage, rather than room rates, which should allow for price increases next year.A number of hotel groups have decided to sell their assets in exchange for a less-risky management contracts, and Hilton has put 11 hotels on the market. Former Abbey National shareholders can sell the Santander stock they received in the takeover at Abbey branches without paying dealing or foreign exchange fees.. The continued success of Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premiership this season may delight fans, but it is annoying bookies, who have to stump up every time the favourites win. The company, which makes dissolvable coatings, has been the subject of a string of bearish rumours and finally got round to issuing a trading statement after the market closed. This revealed that a recent acquisition has underperformed, meaning it will miss revenue forecasts, but scotched more vicious rumours of problems with its development projects….and finally, in Madrid: shares in Santander moved up 1 cent to ¤9.15.

Caffyns, another dealer, held steady at 655p amid gossip that it could ease the pain by selling some sites in the South of England to housebuilders.The downward pressure on Bioprogress shares continued through the day, sending the stock down a further 4.25p to 65.25p. Cambrian Mining, an investment company which holds 48 per cent of Western Canadian, was up 9.5p at a record 142p. And Anglo Pacific, the mining finance group which in turn holds 6 per cent of Cambrian (are you keeping up?) was up 3p to 92p. In the incestuous world of small mining stocks, Cambrian also holds a 27 per cent stake in Asia Energy ­ which shot up 32.5p to a new best of 480p after making progress on funding for its exciting Bangladeshi coal mine ­ and 5.8 per cent of Zari Resources, an exploration company whose own shares held at their record high of 5.25p after it agreed to fund oil and gas projects in west Africa.Inchcape, the car dealer, was off 17p at 1,620p as investors feared that nervous homeowners will hold off on big purchases while house prices stagnate.

Western Canadian Coal, which joined AIM last month at 120p per share, hit a new high of 172.5p, up 8.5p on the day. BHP Billiton shares were in fact off tuppence at 590.5p yesterday, but there was enthusiastic buying of some of the smaller coal plays on the junior AIM market. But the optimism over future profitability (including a promise to double operating profit in three years) suggested to many that it remains a prime takeover candidate. “We are certainly on people’s radar,” said Garry Watts, the SSL chief executive.

Reckitt Benckiser, the owner of Dettol and Lemsip, which held abortive talks last year, was off 18p at 1,555p.A coal industry conference in Sydney was a bullish affair, and there were forecasts that the major miners could raise prices by as much as 80 per cent next year. BHP Billiton is optimistic enough over demand that it plans to double output from its coking coal operations in Queensland, Australia, by the end of the decade. The stock ended up 9.75p at 85.75p, and gave heart to investors who had chased other long-running rumours in recent days.SSL International, the Durex condom maker, did not accompany its interim results with news of a new bid approach, and its shares dipped a penny to 273p. GUS shares were 875p, up 4.5p.Shares in TBI, the owner of Luton airport, were heavily traded amid renewed rumours that it had received a bid approach The company was forced to confirm the rumours at lunchtime. Royal & SunAlliance, the subject of bid chatter on Wednesday, gave back some gains, falling 2p to 77.75p. But MFI Furniture did rise another 2.5p to 118.5p as analysts who saw GUS for its results presentation thought it might buy the furniture chain to bolt on to its Homebase business. Telecoms stocks were the flavour of the day: Vodafone was up 3p to 146.75p, having announced buy-backs and dividend rises this week, and mmO2 topped the FTSE 100 risers with a 4.75p gain to 116.25p after having promised its maiden dividend next year.With so many corporate results, there was enough for dealers to be getting on with without chasing rumours.