Whitbread, the hospitality group behind Costa Coffee, a clutch of pub restaurant formats and Premier Inn, this morning unveiled group wide like-for-like sales growth of 7.9% for the 24 weeks to 19 August 2010.
In a trading update, where it said it was confident about the year’s results - despite tougher comparatives in the second half, it revealed that total sales were up by 14%.
It said all its brands had maintained momentum during the second quarter, with like-for-like sales up in its pub restaurants by 3.9%, along with Costa comparable sales up by +8.3% and + 10.7% at Premier Inn, the group’s budget hotel chain
Alan Parker, the outgoing chief executive, said: “This strong performance across Whitbread is the result of our strategy to increase market share through organic expansion and driving like for like sales.
“We will continue to make progress in this "age of austerity" by relentlessly focusing on meeting the needs of our customers.”
Premier Inn continued to be a success for the group.
Its sales were up 14.5%, with like for like sales up 10.7% and revenue per available room up 9.8%, which Whitbread said reflected “market growth and a continued improvement in our market share.”
Like for like occupancy for the 24 weeks was up to 79.2%, up 9.5 percentage points.
The group’s value for money offer at its pub restaurant chains, which includes Taybarns, Table Table, Beefeater and Brewer’s Fayre, were also applauded. Whitbread said it had gained 6.7% more customers during the 24-week period.
At Costa, Whitbread said the brand had delivered another “excellent performance” and that membership of the Costa Coffee Club, which launched in March, had “exceeded expectations” with more than three million members.
International sales at the coffee chain increased by 25.6% during the period and UK franchise stores were higher at +55%.
The recently undertaken £102m private placement was “part of a process to diversify our sources of funds and to lengthen the debt maturity profile of the group.”
Parker concluded: “Whitbread is well placed, with the right brands offering value for money in attractive segments of the market which have significant opportunities for future growth. We remain confident about the outturn for the year, despite facing tougher comparatives in the second half.”
The group unveils its half-year results on 19 October.
