Whitbread, the FTSE 100 hotel, pub and coffee house operator, defied the gloomy UK hospitality and retail sector today with a confident update on activities for 24 week period to August 14, 2008.
The company said it had witnessed a positive start to the year, with like for like sales up 10.2% at its Premier Inn hotel chain, like for like sales up 4.4% at is pub restaurants division, and even Costa Coffee managed to pull in a like for like gain of 3.7%.
Alan Parker, Chief Executive, Whitbread stated that Whitbread had made “excellent progress with strong growth across the group”.
Of particular note was the solid growth a Premier Inns, a “value-for-money” hotel chain that appears to be capturing market share at the expense of higher end hotels. Total sales at Premier Inn increased 17.9%, with REVPAR increasing 5.8%. In the 24 week period Whitbread opened 14 hotels, adding 1,157 rooms and said it was on target to add 4,000 new rooms this year.
Whitbread’s pub restaurants and Costa Coffee businesses also performed well considering the wider environment for the hospitality market.
“Whitbread has continued to be 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 company stated.
Shares in Whitbread rallied 4.5% on the update.