21st Jul 2006 07:01
Whitbread PLC21 July 2006 Whitbread PLC Disposal of freestanding pub restaurants Whitbread PLC ("Whitbread") announced today that it has agreed to sell 239 ofits freestanding pub restaurant sites (the "Disposal Estate") to Mitchells &Butlers plc for £497 million. The Disposal Estate comprises 235 trading pubrestaurants located throughout the United Kingdom and 4 pub restaurants not yetopen for trade. The consideration is payable in cash and includes contingent deferredconsideration of up to £7 million. Completion of the transaction is expected on28th July 2006. Whitbread will initially use the proceeds from the transactionto pay down debt while it reviews its options for creating shareholder value.Maintaining an efficient balance sheet structure going forwards remains apriority for the company. The aggregate net book value of the Disposal Estate, included in theconsolidated balance sheet as at 1st March 2006, was £280.9 million. TheDisposal Estate made a profit contribution before allocation of central overheadof £37.5 million in the year ended 1st March 2006. Alan Parker, Whitbread PLC Chief Executive commented: "We are very pleased that the sale process has been completed so successfully interms of both value and speed. We can now focus on operating those sites thatcombine a pub restaurant with a Premier Travel Inn - a combination that hasproduced some of the highest returns in the industry. We will also beprogressing our programme of adding around 3,000 new rooms on our existing pubrestaurant sites. We see substantial opportunities for further profitablegrowth from these combined sites." For more information please contact: Christopher Rogers, Group Finance Director, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 1582 396 581Miranda Acland, Tulchan +44 (0) 20 7353 4200Celia Gordon Shute, Tulchan +44 (0) 20 7353 4200Brian Magnus, Morgan Stanley +44 (0) 20 7425 5000 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
WhitbreadMitchells & Butlers