Whitbread brands drive healthy results

The Beefeater and Brewers Fayre operator said total sales for the group climbed 14.4% for the quarter, driven by a 25.5% increase at Costa, with Premier Inn up 12.6%, hotels and restaurants up 9.5% and restaurants up 4.1%.

Costa reported a 7.1% increase in like-for-like sales for the quarter, while the group’s hotels and restaurants saw a 2.3% rise, its restaurants were up 1.9% and Premier Inn experienced a 2.5% increase.

The company said that its restaurants delivered total covers growth of 6.8% year to date, of which like-for-like growth was 4.3%. It said that restaurants like-for-like growth of 1.9%, in the quarter, was predominantly driven by growth in spend per head. For the full year it plans to have opened around eight joint site restaurants in the UK. It currently operates 392 restaurants.

Andy Harrison, chief executive, said: “Whitbread continued its strong growth momentum with total sales up 14.4% together with good like for like sales growth of 3.3%. This once again demonstrates the strength of our brands.

“The economic environment remains challenging with no change in our background consumer market. We are on track to deliver full year results in line with expectations.”