Express & Star

Whitbread enjoys double digit growth

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Premier Inn and Costa Coffee owner Whitbread delivered double digit growth in sales and profit today, as it capitalised on strong Christmas and New Year trading.

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Sales soared by 13% to £2.29 billion for the year to the end of February, while underlying pre-tax profit was also ahead by 16.5% to £411.8 million. The boost came from good festive campaigns and improved weather compared to the previous year.

The group sold 15 million Premier Inn rooms, 47 million restaurant meals and 400 million cups of coffee.

Chairman Anthony Habgood said: "Once again strong cash flow funded the necessary capital investment for our growth engines, Premier Inn and Costa, to increase their market share."

Chief executive Andy Harrison said the results extend Whitbread's track record of double digit growth, with sales growing by 11.4% over the last five years.

"We continue to invest in improving our customer propositions and international expansion, This includes the rollout of our 'best ever bed' in Premier Inn, the launch of 'hub by Premier Inn' and rejuvenating our restaurant brands," he added.

Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants profits were up 11.2% for the year to £348.1m, while Costa delivered profit growth of 21.9% to £109.8m.

The number of Premier Inn rooms in the Uk grew 6.5% to 55,035 as 23 new hotel opened taking the total to 672.

Whitbread created about 3,000 net new jobs in the UK in the year to take the total employed to more than 43,000.