BASS has conceded the title of Britain's biggest brewer, now the accolade of Scottish & Newcastle, but has something else to be proud of.

As the world's largest hotelier it is in a strong position to drive forward an internationally expanding portfolio of hospitality assets and where the long-term prospects must be appreciably better than a domestic beer sector with zero growth.

Bass has refined its portfolio - with no significant peripheral activities left - leaving it free to concentrate upon hotels, pub retailing and brewing.

The advantages of the Inter-Continental hotels include a very efficient infrastructure which can be incorporated into other brands.

With defined hotel categories there is scope for significantly raising room revenues, and with the vast proportion of hotel revenue earned overseas, any further weakness in the pound would prove beneficial.

The managed pub estate is of similar quality to Whitbread which, with S&N, is increasing pressure on the smaller operators such as Vaux and Wolverhampton & Dudley.

The consumer is looking for the ''leisure outing'' and is largely prepared to pay reasonably high prices for the experience.

The high degree of corporate activity in the past year or so is making it difficult to get an accurate fix on short-term profit prospects, although it is clear that the Inter-Continental purchase will not contribute as much in the current half-year as the businesses which were sold off.

However a couple of years down the track, Bass could see its profits approaching #1000m without any strain as it has the fire-power to make additional large purchases as large as Inter-Continental.

The biggest concern must be any slowdown in economic activity in the US and the extent to which that is felt elsewhere.