8th Sep 2015 06:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Whitbread PLC Tuesday reported a rise in sales in the first half of its financial year, boosted by growth in both its Premier Inn and Costa businesses, and it said it is on track to meet expectations for the full year.
The hotel and coffee shop operator said that total sales in the 24 weeks to August 13 grew 11.8%, or 3.9% on a like-for-like basis on the same period the year before. In the second quarter, total sales increased 11.1% and rose 3.3% on a like-for-like basis.
Of this, Premier Inn's total revenue grew 12.9% in the first half, with like-for-like sales up 5.3%, while Costa's total revenue increased 16.7%, as like-for-likes rose 4.6%.
"We are developing plans to adopt the recently announced National Living Wage. We shall mitigate this substantial cost increase over time with a combination of productivity improvements, boosted by investment in systems and training, efficiency savings and some selective price increases," Chief Executive Andy Harrison said in a statement.
"Our first-half performance keeps us on track to deliver full-year expectations, as well as our ambitious growth milestones. This year we plan to open around 5,500 UK rooms, around 220 net new Costa stores worldwide and to install 700-800 new Costa Express machines. Our committed UK hotel pipeline has grown to 14,106 rooms," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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