27th Feb 2014 09:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - Whitbread PLC saw its shares jump Thursday after the hospitality brand owner reported strong sales growth for the last quarter, with trading by its brands boosted by a strong Christmas trading period and favourable weather in January.
Whitbread recorded sales growth across its brands, which includes coffee chain Costa and low-cost hotel group Premier Inn.
Reporting on sales for the 11 weeks to February 13, 2014, Whitbread said like-for-like sales for the quarter were up 6.8%, with total sales up 14% for the period.
During the period, like-for-like sales at Premier Inn grew 8.2%, with total sales up 15.2%. The Costa brand recorded like-for-like sales growth of 7.3%, up 18.2% in total sales. Whitbread's Restaurants saw 4.4% like-for-like growth, up 5.8% in total sales. The hotels and restaurants division recorded an 11.4% boost in total sales and 6.6% growth in like-for-like sales.
Andy Harrison, Chief Executive of Whitbread, said, "Whitbread delivered a strong fourth quarter, with total sales growth of 14.0% and like for like sales growth of 6.8%, driven by a particularly good Christmas trading period and, to a lesser extent, favourable weather comparatives in January."
On a divisional basis, hotel chain Premier Inn continued to be boosted by Whitbread's investment in product quality, including the launch of its 'best ever bed' campaign. Total occupancy was up 2.5% on the comparable quarter and up 1.5% on last year.
Whitbread's restaurants improved during the period and benefited from the absence of snow; the brand served 92,000 guests at its restaurants on Christmas Day with sales up 5.8%.
Costa continued to operate strongly, with an excellent fourth quarter driven by 312 net new store openings during the year, as well as a strong Christmas campaign contributing to a boost in sales during the period.
Harrison said the divisional growth, "puts us on track to deliver full year results towards the top end of current expectations."
The firm also reported results for the 50 weeks to February 13, 2014, like-for-like sales came in at 4%, and total sales up 13.2%. Premier Inn like-for-like sales were up 4.7% for the period, a 13.3% boost in total sales. Costs showed a 5.8% rise in like-for-like figures, while recording a 20.1% rise in total sales for the 5-0 weeks. The Restaurants and Hotels and Restaurant divisions sales were up 1.3% and 3.4% on a like-for-like basis, respectively, with total sales for the 50 weeks up 3.7% and 9.8%, respectively.
Looking ahead, Whitbread said it will open around 3,500 new rooms during the full-year and approximately 4,500 new rooms in 2014/15, retaining its committed UK pipeline at 10,500 rooms. The firm said after a strong year for Costa - Whitbread opened 167 stores in the UK, 145 internationally and added 918 net Costa Express machines taking the total to 3,478 during the year - it plans to open a broadly similar number of stores and install around 600 Costa Express units.
Shares in Whitbread were trading up 4.72% at 4,389 pence per share, the second higheest gainer on the FTSE 100.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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