Costa grew like-for-like sales 2.5% in the 13 weeks to 26 November with the figure for the 39 weeks to that date up 3.6%.
Parent company Whitbread reported total like-for-like sales in Q3 up 3.5% off a total sales rise of 10.4%. In the Restaurants division Q3 like-for-likes rose 1.7% while the year to date was +0.6%. In Hotels and Restaurants the figures were +3.8% and +3.5% respectively and for Premier Inn +4.7% and +4.9%.
In her first update to the market new chief executive Alison Brittain said:”I am delighted to have joined Whitbread as CEO. This is a great business with a strong leadership team and 48,500 team members who are passionate about delivering outstanding customer service.
“In Costa and Premier Inn we have built the nation’s most loved coffee shop and hotel brands and we have laid out clear and ambitious growth milestones. I am looking forward to building on the foundations of the business by investing in our people, our network and our infrastructure to enhance our customer offer, further strengthen our brands and deliver profitable growth.
“Whitbread has had another good quarter and, for the year to date, we have delivered total sales growth of 11.1% and like for like sales growth of 3.6%. Our brands continue to win market share and we are on track to deliver full year results in line with market expectations.”
Whitbread reported that Costa’s UK retail system sales, year to date, grew by 14.9% to £635m with equity stores growing like for like sales by 3.7%. Costa opened 69 net new UK stores, including its 2,000th UK store.
Costa grew its worldwide total sales by 15.3% for the 39 weeks with worldwide system sales up 14.1% to £1.2bn (14.3% at constant currency). Within this, franchise system sales grew by 11.3% to £443m.
Costa Enterprises (including Costa Express UK & International) delivered system sales of £294m, up 14%. Costa Express installed a further 687 Costa Express machines taking the total to 4,979.
International system sales grew by 11.9% to £236m (13.0% at constant currency). 37 net new stores were opened in the period with 25 in EMEI and 12 in Asia.
In the year Costa plans to open around 200 net new stores worldwide and install over 800 net Costa Express machines.
