Leisure group Whitbread has seen a 12.8% rise in total sales following a strong performance at both its Premier Inn and Costa brands.

Andy Harrison, chief executive of Whitbread commented: "We have delivered another strong quarter's trading, thanks to the hard work of all the Whitbread teams.”

Premier Inn grew total sales by 14.7% and like-for-like sales by 9.2% in the quarter, benefiting from a buoyant hotel market especially in the UK regions. This was helped by the improving economy as well as special events, including the Farnborough Airshow and the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, coffee chain Costa had a good summer with total sales growth of 17.8% and like-for-like UK sales growth of 7.3%, aided by weak comparatives from last year's warmer than average July. In early September, Costa launched Old Paradise Street Limited Roast, which is a new range of limited edition roast blends which is expected to perform well.

Mr Harrison added: “Whitbread remains on track for another good year. Our strong brands continue to win market share, reinforced by ambitious organic network expansion. We plan to open around 4,500 new Premier Inn rooms and five joint site restaurants along with around 300 net new Costa stores this year. Our committed pipeline has grown to around 13,000 UK rooms."