Mitchells & Butlers rows back on Whitbread sale speculation

Bar group Mitchells & Butlers has rowed back on speculation it is in line to acquire more than half of Whitbread’s pub-restaurants in a £600m deal.

The operator of All Bar One and Brown’s had been tipped as the frontrunner in the sale by a report in The Times last week.

However, a Mitchells & Butlers spokesperson told The Caterer: “As a major player in hospitality we’re regularly the subject of industry speculation. But that’s all this is … speculation.”

Whitbread is reportedly looking to sell 250 of its 440 pubs, which include the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands, to focus on its Premier Inn hotel estate.

The company's annual report showed that despite a rise in hotel guests the group's restaurants were trading 4% below pre-pandemic levels.

The Times reported that pub companies including Heineken and Marstons had been approached by Whitbread as part of a tightly run sales process.

Mitchells & Butlers, which runs over 1,700 pubs and restaurants across the UK, said in April it would take a 100% stake in Mediterranean brand Ego Restaurants ahead of plans to expand across the country.

The company has a history of snapping up Whitbread sites. In 2006, it paid £497m for 239 Whitbread pub-restaurants, largely under the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre brands.

Two years later, Whitbread exchanged 44 pub-restaurants with Mitchells & Butlers for 21 Express by Holiday Inn branded hotels in a straight asset swap.

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