8th Apr 2008 07:01
Whitbread PLC08 April 2008 RNS - For release on Tuesday 8th April 2008 £100 MILLION PREMIER INN LONDON EXPANSION Whitbread PLC, the UK's largest hotel and restaurant group, has today announcedsix new Premier Inn hotels in London, with 1200 rooms, to be opened over thenext three years, with an investment equivalent to £100 million. Whitbread has agreed to acquire the Quality Hotel (Westminster), Comfort Inn(Kensington) and Purple Hotel (City of London) from the Real Hotel Company PLC(RHC) for £18.5 million in cash, adding 400 new rooms. An additional £12million will be spent converting them to Premier Inn hotels. Whitbread has alsosecured the first right of refusal to acquire all 12 of the remaining Purplehotels from RHC should they be earmarked for sale. The proposed acquisition issubject to RHC shareholder approval and certain property related consents. Premier Inn is also developing three new build hotels in the Greater Londonarea, which together with extension to existing properties adds 800 new rooms.The three new builds are located at Waterloo, Ealing and Old Street in the Cityand are scheduled to open by 2011. The equivalent of £70 million* will beinvested in these leasehold developments. Premier Inn is the largest hotel group in London by number of properties with 44hotels and 5,300 rooms. The plans announced today will increase the totalnumber of rooms in the Capital to 6,500, with a further pipeline of 2,000 roomsexpected to be announced over the next twelve months. Together, these willrepresent an increase of 60% to Premier Inn's London estate. Alan Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread PLC, said: "We have exciting expansion plans for Premier Inn in London and today's additionof 1200 rooms is a great start. The Capital is an important focus for PremierInn, and there is an increasing need for high quality, affordable accommodation.Our further pipeline will position us as the largest hotel chain in Londonwith at least 8,500 rooms before the Olympics in 2012". * This relates to the capital value of the lease commitments. The cash capitalto be invested amounts to some £6.5 million. Whitbread PLCInvestors:Chris Rogers, Finance Director 01582 889418 Media:Julie Foster, Interim Communications Director 01582 844244 Tulchan CommunicationsDavid Allchurch/Tom Murray 0207 353 4200 High resolution images will be available later this morning for the media toview and download free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk About Whitbread PLC ... Whitbread PLC is the UK's largest hotel and restaurantgroup with market leading businesses Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre, Beefeater andCosta. Founded in 1742, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange(as WTB.L) and is a member of the FTSE4Good indices. http://www.whitbread.co.uk/. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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