PREMIER Inn hotels owner Whitbread yesterday highlighted what it claimed was its "resilience" in worsening economic conditions as it reported a 24 per cent jump in half-year profits.
The group, which also owns coffee chain Costa and the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants, maintained that the positioning of its brands in value-for-money segments of the market had served it well in the current climate.
Pre-tax profits from
continuing operations for the six months to 28 August rose to £123.3 million as like-for-like sales improved 7 per cent.
Chief executive Alan Parker said: "Whilst we anticipate that conditions will become more challenging in the remainder of the year, since the end of August the group continues to make good progress across our leading brands in the value for money sectors."
Whitbread's trading improvement has been driven by the performance of Premier Inns, which has benefited from the trend for corporate customers to trade down to budget hotels in the economic downturn.
Total sales at Premier increased by 17.8 per cent to £311 million, with sales excluding newly opened hotels rose 10.1 per cent on a year earlier.
The occupancy rate was 79.3 per cent, which Whitbread said was well ahead of industry average. Premier offered 37,231 rooms in 532 hotels at the end of August after adding 1,380 new rooms during the first half of the year.
Parker said yesterday that September had been the busiest month Premier Inn had ever experienced in terms of business trade, which now accounts for more than 60 per cent of revenue.
Its coffee arm, Costa, continued to expand during the period, leaving it with 1,121 stores by the end of August. There were 775 outlets in the UK after 84 new sites were added. The openings contributed to a 25.6 per cent rise in Costa's revenues to £123.2m, with like-for-like sales up 3.7 per cent in the first half. The figure for August showed a 4.5 per cent year-on-year gain.
Whitbread said: "Customer feedback indicates that Costa remains an everyday affordable treat."
The full article contains 367 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
