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 06 July 2008 14:51 BST

Whitbread profits climb

Tuesday, 16 Oct 2007 08:54
Costa sales boosted Whitbread's performance

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Whitbread, owner of the Costa coffee and Premier Inn hotel chains, has reported a 13.3 per cent rise in half-year profits.

In a statement the company revealed that profit before tax and exceptional items, for continuing operations, rose to £99.4 million in the six months to August 30th. That compared to the £87.7 million first-half profit reported by Whitbread in 2006.

Meanwhile total profits for the period almost tripled, with Whitbread's results boosted by the sale of its David Lloyd health club chain. The company completed the sale of David Lloyd Leisure in August, in a £925 million deal.

Whitbread's total profit for the six months to the end of August subsequently soared by 267.2 per cent, climbing from £136 million last year to £499.4 million.

Commenting on the performance Whitbread chairman Anthony Habgood said: "These are good results stemming from a combination of focused investment in growing markets where we have strong competitive positions and judicious divestments.

"We are now seeing the results of this strategy," he added.

Whitbread said that total sales for its continuing operations climbed by 10.8 per cent to £590.2 million over the first-half, with the growth led by increased revenue achieved by Premier Inn and Costa. Like-for-like sales also increased by 6.3 per cent, the highest level in recent years, Whitbread confirmed.

Premier Inn's like-for-like occupancy for the first-half was 81.2 per cent, an increase of 1.3 per cent on the corresponding period of the previous year and ahead of the industry average, Whitbread said.

The company said that it expected the budget hotel sector to continue growing and has added a further 2000 rooms to the Premier Inn chain through the acquisition of the Tulip Inn business, announced last month.

Whitbread added that its restaurants had also reported their fourth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth, with overall sales from continuing operations up 3.1 per cent over the period. The company also revealed that it had made "solid progress" in remodelling the Beefeater chain of pubs.End of story


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