Whitbread reports ‘impressive’ H1 for Premier Inn

Premier Inn has revealed it has plans to grow its pipeline to 125,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland after an “impressive first-half performance”.

In its half-year update Whitbread, the owner of the hotel group, said profit before tax was up by 44% to £391m, while UK accommodation sales were 15% ahead of H1 FY23 and 55% above H1 FY20.

Total statutory revenues increased by 17% to £1.57b, while UK revpar (revenue per available room) also had a 14% boost, which raised figures from £62.39 to £71.02.

In the six weeks to 12 October 2023, the hotel group reported its forward-booked occupancy was broadly aligned with last year “but at higher ARRs (average room rates)”.

Whitbread attributed its success to a “buoyant” UK market driven by strong levels of consumer demand for business and leisure, with a “particularly strong” performance in London.

Dominic Paul, chief executive of Whitbread, said: "This is an impressive first-half performance. In the UK we maintained high levels of occupancy while continuing to attract excellent guest scores and offering great value for our customers. The strengths of our operating model and our continued focus on driving cost efficiencies across the business resulted in UK margins exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

"The group is in excellent shape, trading well and has significant growth potential, both in the UK and Germany. Based on our strong performance to date and an encouraging forward-booked position, we remain optimistic about the full-year outlook and look forward with confidence as reflected by our increased interim dividend and further planned share buy-back."

Premier Inn is the UK's largest hotel group. As of 31 August 2023, it has 849 hotels and 83,934 rooms open across the UK and Ireland.