Whitbread chief executive David Thomas is in bullish mood. He told the Financial Times last week that he was now confident the company had turned a corner with his strategy to streamline the group to create a focussed leisure retailer.
Seven divisions have been reduced to three: hotels, health clubs and restaurants under the Future Whitbread strategy. The transformation will be further enhanced once the sale, announced last month, of the underperforming Pelican restaurants, including Rouge and Bella, is completed.
The question now is whether the management can extract value from the company?
Thomas says the next couple of years is about delivering results from existing brands. Organic growth rather than acquisition is the focus, although Whitbread may still want to extricate itself from its agreements with the US owners of both Pizza Hut and TGI Fridays.
Central, however, are plans to double David Lloyd clubs, Costa coffee shops and Pizza Hut restaurants. The number of Travel Inn rooms will also rise from 15,000 to 25,000.
The company has set performance targets of 5% like-for-like growth and a 1% return on capital employed within three years, and a corporate development director has been appointed to investigate yet to be divulged growth opportunities further down the line.
But speculation also centres on Thomas himself and whether it is time for him to step aside. He is 57 and implies he will stay a further three years to see the job through. However, rumours abound that Whitbread Restaurants boss Bill Shannon is being lined up as the internal candidate to succeed him.
Much will depend on non-executive chairman Sir John Banham, who has been the catalyst for much of the change in the group. He recently embarrassed the board when he spontaneously told a press conference he would forego a pay rise, prompting journalists to enquire whether other directors would follow his example. Only hotels division boss Alan Parker followed suit, leaving Thomas and colleagues mumbling about making policy on the hoof. Parker is seen as another candidate for Thomas' job, not least because his charges Marriott and Travel Inn account for over half of group profits.
Senior executives might be wise to feel nervous as the pressure for profit will also focus on costs. The sale of businesses leaves parts of the empire looking a little top heavy especially in management resource, not least Restaurants once Pelican has flown.
Whitbread may also face external pressure. A re-emerging rumour is that an entrepreneur such as Luke Johnson may want to take a crack at the group promising shareholders more value from a break-up of the business.
The focus on hitting targets will be even more tighter for Whitbread's top men.
Seven divisions have been reduced to three: hotels, health clubs and restaurants under the Future Whitbread strategy. The transformation will be further enhanced once the sale, announced last month, of the underperforming Pelican restaurants, including Rouge and Bella, is completed.
The question now is whether the management can extract value from the company?
Thomas says the next couple of years is about delivering results from existing brands. Organic growth rather than acquisition is the focus, although Whitbread may still want to extricate itself from its agreements with the US owners of both Pizza Hut and TGI Fridays.
Central, however, are plans to double David Lloyd clubs, Costa coffee shops and Pizza Hut restaurants. The number of Travel Inn rooms will also rise from 15,000 to 25,000.
The company has set performance targets of 5% like-for-like growth and a 1% return on capital employed within three years, and a corporate development director has been appointed to investigate yet to be divulged growth opportunities further down the line.
But speculation also centres on Thomas himself and whether it is time for him to step aside. He is 57 and implies he will stay a further three years to see the job through. However, rumours abound that Whitbread Restaurants boss Bill Shannon is being lined up as the internal candidate to succeed him.
Much will depend on non-executive chairman Sir John Banham, who has been the catalyst for much of the change in the group. He recently embarrassed the board when he spontaneously told a press conference he would forego a pay rise, prompting journalists to enquire whether other directors would follow his example. Only hotels division boss Alan Parker followed suit, leaving Thomas and colleagues mumbling about making policy on the hoof. Parker is seen as another candidate for Thomas' job, not least because his charges Marriott and Travel Inn account for over half of group profits.
Senior executives might be wise to feel nervous as the pressure for profit will also focus on costs. The sale of businesses leaves parts of the empire looking a little top heavy especially in management resource, not least Restaurants once Pelican has flown.
Whitbread may also face external pressure. A re-emerging rumour is that an entrepreneur such as Luke Johnson may want to take a crack at the group promising shareholders more value from a break-up of the business.
The focus on hitting targets will be even more tighter for Whitbread's top men.
