Whitbread combines management of hotels and pubs

Whitbread has today announced a number of sweeping changes to its structure, including combining the management of its hotels and pub restaurant businesses.

The group said it was combining the divisional management of the hotels and restaurant arms, "as we focus on the joint sites model".

Patrick Dempsey, Premier Inn managing director, is to be appointed to the new position of managing director of the combined hotel and restaurant division.

Whitbread also announced that it expects to save £25m a year by farming out its logistics operations to a third party.

Talks with a potential supplier had already started, the group revealed.

Whitbread reported overall like-for-like sales for the 50 weeks to February 14 up 5.7 per cent - these were up 5.8 per cent at the 39 week mark.

Its Premier Inn hotel business "slowed slightly", according to analysts, but by less than the market, registering a like-for-like gain over the 50 weeks of 10.5 per cent.

The group was "on track" to deliver more than 3,400 rooms in 2008, versus 2,500 last year.

Whitbread's restaurant operation saw like-for-like sales up 0.8 per cent over the period, having rising 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Its Costa coffee business registered a 6.3 per cent like-for-like sales increase.

A spokesman for Whitbread meanwhile said that reports of the group offloading pubs were "exaggerated".

"We announced we were keeping some 130 pubs with a view to combining them with hotel sites," he said.

"We are hopeful for planning permission for all 130 over a two year period, but there is a chance that a small number won't get it."