Whitbread to check in with top results
Costa and Premier Inn continue to deliver for Whitbread after the leisure group yesterday assured investors that it was on track for profits at the top end of City hopes.
The FTSE-100 group reported like-for-like sales growth of 6.8 per cent in the 11 weeks to 13 February, driven by a strong Christmas and favourable weather comparatives a year earlier.
Coffee shop chain Costa again performed strongly after underlying sales growth of 7.3 per cent, while budget hotel brand Premier Inn improved 8.3 per cent and the company’s Beef-eater and Brewers Fayre restaurants achieved 4.4 per cent.
City analysts had been expecting profits of around £400 million in the year to the end of February, up from £356m a year earlier. Shares rose 4.9 per cent to close at 4,397p.