Permira has written down its investment in Travelodge and Little Chef, the UK budget hotel and roadside restaurant chain it bought for £712m (€1.1bn) in 2002, after the company's earnings were hit by the tourism downturn of last year.

The pan-European buy-out firm invested £248m in the company, according to information published last year by Schroder Ventures International Investment Trust (SVIIT), the quoted investment vehicle that co-invests alongside Permira. The preliminary financial results just published by SVIIT, which said it plans to rename itself SVG Capital, show that Permira has written down this investment by 15%.