Costa Coffee saw like-for-like sales in the UK grow 5% in the 13 weeks to 28 May with total system sales up 15.9% to £375.2m.
Parent company Whitbread reported total like-for-like sales for the period up 4.3%, with the Premier Inn business contributing a 6.3% rise, its Restaurants arm almost flat at 0.1% and Hotels and Restaurants up 4.1%.
At Costa, franchise system sales grew by 13.5% to £143.6m and the company saw transaction growth of 4.4%. Costa opened 37 net new UK stores in the quarter with 171 Costa Express machines installed, taking the total to 4,463.
International system sales grew by 15.1% to £80.6m. Eight net new stores were opened in the period with five in EMEI and three in Asia. In May the company acquired the Costa franchise business in Singapore, where it now has nine equity stores.
Costa plans to open around 250 net new stores and 700-800 net Costa Express machines in the full year.
Within the hotels and restaurants business, the company said its restaurants delivered total sales growth of 1.6% and like for like sales growth of 0.1% in the first quarter, slightly ahead of a soft pub restaurant market outside the M25.
Premier Inn grew total sales for the 13 weeks by 14.3% and like for like sales by 6.3%, total revpar by 6.1% and total room nights sold by 8.1% to 4.3 million. Total occupancy at 80.6% was down (0.1%) pt and the number of rooms available increased by 8.2%.
Chief Executive, Andy Harrison, said: “Whitbread has begun the new financial year well, in line with expectations, with total sales growth for the first quarter of 12.5% and good like for like sales growth of 4.3%, driven by continued momentum in Premier Inn and Costa.
“Our leading brands continue to win market share as we invest in our people, our customer experience and our infrastructure. We are on track to deliver our ambitious growth milestones. This year we plan to open around 5,500 new Premier Inn UK rooms and around 250 net new Costa stores worldwide. Our committed UK pipeline has grown to 13,339 rooms and construction is underway on 42 new hotel sites as well as 19 hotel extensions.”
Whitbread Chairman, Richard Baker said: “I am pleased to confirm that Alison Brittain will now be joining Whitbread as Chief Executive Designate on 28 September. Alison will start as Chief Executive on 7 December enabling a smooth transition with Andy Harrison who will be retiring from the Company on that date.”
