14th Jun 2005 07:00
Whitbread PLC14 June 2005 14 June 2005 WHITBREAD AGM TRADING STATEMENT Whitbread PLC will today report a positive start to the year to its AnnualGeneral Meeting. In the 13 weeks to 2 June 2005, excluding Premier Lodge, total sales forcontinuing Whitbread increased by 5.0% and including Premier Lodge by 14.1%. Ona like for like basis, sales in continuing Whitbread increased by 1.0% againstthe strongest period last year. Including Marriott like for like sales were upby 1.5% First Quarter SALES Trends 13 weeks to 2 June % change vs prior year Like-for-Like Total Premier Travel Inn 8.2* 10.4*Pub Restaurants (1.0) 3.7High Street Restaurants (0.1) 5.5David Lloyd Leisure 0.1 2.0 Continuing Whitbread 1.0 5.0 * Travel Inn only Alan Parker, Chief Executive commented: This has been a creditable performance in a challenging environment. Operatingcosts are being tightly controlled and the initial benefits of our previouslyannounced cost reduction programme are beginning to be realised. Premier Travel Inn sales have been excellent, with an accelerating growth trendas the benefits of the completed integration programme have started to comethrough. Occupancy in the first quarter has been marginally down year on yearbut this has been more than offset by an uplift in achieved room rate due to mixand discount elimination in the Premier Lodge sites. With 29,000 bedroomsPremier Travel Inn is now the UK's largest hotel brand. Up to 1,800 rooms aredue to be opened this year. Sales in pub restaurants are 3.7% ahead of last year. However on a like forlike basis the performance is disappointing particularly in Brewsters. All 142Brewsters are being rebranded Brewers Fayre during the first half of thefinancial year and 2,800 restaurant covers are to be added. With a newmanagement team in pub restaurants now in place there is potential forimprovement. A number of opportunities have been identified to drive volumealthough it will take several months for the results to show. In the firstquarter three new Brewers Fayres have been opened with 15 more to be added overthe remainder of the year. High street restaurants have seen total sales grow by 5.5%. Costa deliveredgood like for like sales. As the UK's fastest growing coffee shop chain Costahas opened 16 new sites in the UK in the first quarter with more than 70 plannedby the end of the year and a further 30 internationally. TGI Friday's hasrepositioned its menu. This has resulted in like for like sales beingmarginally negative but cover volumes have increased by 8%. Four new TGIFriday's will open by the year-end. Pizza Hut has been affected by lower retailfootfall but long-term prospects are sound and we will open 70 new units thisyear. David Lloyd Leisure has seen total sales growth of 2.0% and like for like saleshave held. Targeted marketing and a major service initiative have helpedmembership stabilise since the dip in the second half of last year. In linewith our plans three new clubs will open at Kings Hill in Kent, Southend-on-Sea,Essex and in Barcelona, Spain. Over the past year we have substantially reshaped Whitbread for the future andfocused our strategy on our three core business areas. Our joint venture withMarriott is now established. The Marriott hotels have traded well over thefirst quarter with a 4.0% improvement in like for like sales. The process todispose of properties in the joint venture has started and the level of interestreceived is encouraging. The sale of our German restaurants business has beencompleted. We have recently made a return of £400m to shareholders and have undertaken tomake further returns out of the already announced disposals. We have a clearcommitment to review the efficiency of our capital structure and will continueto pursue a progressive dividend policy. Our key priority now is to restartlike for like sales momentum in pub restaurants and David Lloyd and to furtherimprove the profitability of our market leading hospitality business to the fullbenefit of our shareholders. Looking to the future the Board remains confidentabout prospects for Whitbread. Lastly, our Chairman Sir John Banham is standing down and we would like to thankhim for his guidance, enthusiasm and commitment to Whitbread, its people andshareholders. He has been an outstanding Chairman and we wish him every successin the future. Conference call for analysts and investors Alan Parker and Christopher Rogers will be available for a conference call at8am today (UK time). To participate, dial +44 (0) 20 7784 1014. A recording of the conference call will be available for seven days. To listen,dial +44 (0) 20 7784 1024 and enter the passcode 5845070#. For more information please contact: Investor Relations: Dan Waugh, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 7799 581763 (m) Simon French, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 20 7806 5432 Press Contacts: Anna Glover, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 7747 766958 (m) Andrew Grant, Tulchan +44 (0) 20 7353 4200 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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