Whitbread's pubs perform well, despite downturn

Whitbread said revising its brand formats helped push sales across its pub restaurant division up 4.4 per cent in the 24 weeks to August 14, 2008.

The group said total sales rose six per cent throughout its pub operation, with covers increasing by 9.3 per cent.

In an interim statement published today Whitbread added that its hotel business, Premier Inn, had seen a significant hike in sales, up 17.9 per cent, with like-for-likes up 10.2 per cent.

The group's Costa Coffee business saw total sales up 23.6 per cent, thanks to an additional 74 outlets in the UK, with like-for-like sales up 3.7 per cent.

Whitbread said it remained "resilient in a period of consumer uncertainty.

"We believe this to be as a result both of the action taken in recent years to re-shape the group and our continuing emphasis on value for money. Our strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to investment put us in a good position to take advantage of additional growth opportunities.

"We remain vigilant in these challenging economic times and are alert to whatever further action is required."

The City liked what it read in the statement, sending Whitbread's shares up 42p to 1,162p.

Noting the pub operation's performance, Geof Collyer of Deutsche Bank commented: "Contrary to our view of a potential loss of focus from merging hotels and pubs, the division seems to be thriving under one management structure.

Liberum Capital's Alex Paterson said a slight slowdown in Premier Inn and a sharp slowdown at Costa will inevitably skew sentiment, "even though the outcome is probably better than expected".