15th Dec 2005 07:00
Whitbread PLC15 December 2005 15 December 2005 Whitbread PLC Third Quarter Trading Statement For the first 39 weeks of its financial year (to 1 December 2005) total salesfor continuing Whitbread have grown by 8.0%. Underlying total sales, excludingthe Premier Lodge acquisition, have grown by 3.0% and like for like sales aredown 0.5%. Sales for 39 weeks to 1 December 2005 % change vs prior year Like-for-like sales Total salesPremier Travel Inn 7.3 33.7Pub restaurants (2.1) 1.4High street restaurants (3.4) 1.5David Lloyd Leisure (0.4) 2.5Continuing Whitbread (0.5) 8.0 Alan Parker, Chief Executive, Whitbread PLC, commented: "Premier Travel Inn continues to perform strongly. Year to date occupancylevels now stand at 81.9% having recovered well following a weaker July andAugust. We expect to reach the next milestone of 30,000 rooms around the yearend. In Pub Restaurants trading remains disappointing and, whilst early customerreaction to our menu and pricing initiatives gives us encouragement, reversingthe trends in volume decline will take time. In David Lloyd Leisure the new management team has developed detailed plans forimproving operational performance and for driving future growth. These plansare now being implemented. The clubs we have opened this year are performingwell. Costa has delivered excellent sales growth for the third consecutive quarterthis year and recently opened its 400th store in the UK. TGI Friday's and PizzaHut continue to find trading conditions difficult on the high street. With the sale of our Britvic stake, our asset restructuring programme remains ontrack, providing funds to support the ongoing £400 million capital returnprogramme. Good progress continues to be made with the disposal of theMarriott hotel assets. In the third quarter we have re-financed the Group,replacing £550 million of bridging loans with a new £700 million facility. Although we expect the remainder of the year to be challenging, the Group as awhole continues to perform in line with our expectations and our prioritiesremain unchanged: improved operational performance, tight cost control anddisciplined growth." Conference call for analysts and investors Alan Parker and Christopher Rogers will be available for a conference call at 7.45am today. To participate, dial +44 (0) 20 7365 1855 A recording of the conference call will be available for seven days. To listen,dial +44 (0) 20 7784 1024 and enter the passcode 6855948#. This service will beactive approximately one hour after the conference call has finished. For more information please contact: Investor Relations:Christopher Rogers, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 20 7806 5406 Press Contacts:Anna Glover, Whitbread PLC +44 (0) 1582 844 439Andrew 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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