Whitbread reports a rise in sales

Whitbread sales for the first 39 weeks of 2006 have grown by 10.1% with like for like sales rising by 3.9%, the leisure giant announced today in a trading statement.

Premier Travel Inn's (PTI) growth has strengthened with total sales up 16.3%. In the year to 30 November, Whitbread has opened 1,640 PTI rooms, which includes 14 new build hotels and 9 extensions to existing hotels. It remains on target to open 2,500 rooms in this financial year.

Pub restaurants have improved with a sales increase of 2.1%, David Lloyd Leisure has delivered a 5.8% increase in sales while Costa Coffee has been the strongest performer with sales up 22.1%.

This week Costa celebrated the opening of its 500th UK store in Oxford. Internationally, it has opened its first store in Eastern Europe and will open in China in Shanghai by Christmas.

Alan Parker, chief executive of Whitbread, said: "This has been a good quarter's trading across the group with all four businesses generating a positive increase in sales.

"These results demonstrate that we continue to make improvements in operating performance. We are driving rapid expansion in our Premier Travel Inn and Costa businesses and the ongoing turnaround at David Lloyd Leisure is encouraging. I am particularly pleased by the first signs of improvement in Pub Restaurants."

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By Daniel Thomas

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