21st Oct 2014 06:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Premier Inn hotels and Costa coffee chain operator Whitbread PLC Tuesday reported higher pretax profit and revenue for the first-half of its financial year, as both businesses continued to grow and take market share.
Whitbread declared a 15.6% increase in its interim dividend to 25.50 pence, as group return on capital increased to 15.8%.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP241.8 million for the six months to August 28, up from GBP200.7 million the year before, as revenue rose 13% to GBP1.29 billion, from GBP1.14 billion.
"Our cash flow is funding our double digit dividend growth and rapid organic expansion which will drive our future profit growth," said Chief Executive Andy Harrison in a statement, "Premier Inn and Costa, go from strength to strength and continue to win market share".
Whitbread said its expects to invest around GBP500 million this year in driving organic growth and improving its businesses.
"We expect to open around 4,500 new Premier Inn UK rooms and around 230 net new Costa stores worldwide. This keeps us on track to achieve our ambitious growth milestones," said Harrison.
Whitbread said Premier Inn total sales were up almost 15% in the first half, with like-for-like sales up 9.6% and total revenue per available room up 8.8%.
Total sales at its Costa coffee chain grew just under 17%, with like-for-like sales up 6.1% in the UK, driven by a 5% increase in customer transactions. Worldwide system sales grew by 15.5%, it said.
It said its restaurants business grew its total sales by 4.3%
"The trading momentum of our strong first half performance has continued into the first few weeks of the second half and positions Whitbread well to deliver full year results in line with expectations. The comparatives become more demanding, especially in the fourth quarter, due to the benign winter weather last year which caused minimal trading disruption," said Harrison.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Whitbread