Accor ups profit forecast after firm Q4 sales

PARIS Jan 15 (Reuters) - French hotel group Accor (ACCP.PA) raised on Tuesday its forecast for full year pre-tax operating profit to just over 900 million euros from a previous range of 870 to 890 million after reporting a strong finish to 2007.

Accor said fourth quarter sales rose 1.9 percent to 2.002 billion euros, coming just ahead of the average 1.981 billion euros expected in a Reuters poll of five analysts' expectations.

It said full year sales rose 6.8 percent to 8.121 billion euros, or a like-for-like increase of 6.5 percent compared with 6.3 percent expected in the Reuters poll. (Reporting by Nick Antonovics)