Costa owner reveals jump in first-quarter sales

Whitbread, the owner of coffee chain Costa and hotels business Premier Inn, today reported a 12.7 per cent surge in total sales for the first three months of its new financial year.

The group said like-for-like sales at Costa during the 13 weeks to 29 May were up 6.9 per cent on the same period a year ago, while Premier Inn enjoyed a 9.5 per cent jump as it benefited from strong demand in London.

Chief executive Andy Harrison said: “Whitbread is well positioned for another good year with our strong brands continuing to win market share, reinforced by ambitious organic network expansion.

“We currently have 43 new Premier Inn hotels under construction in the UK and expect to open around 4,500 new rooms this year, together with five joint site restaurants. Costa will open around 300 net new stores this year.”

By 2018, the group is aiming to have increased the number of Premier Inn rooms in the UK to about 75,000 and grown sales at Costa to about £2 billion.