Hospitality and leisure group Whitbread has said that its Costa and Premier Inn brands led it to report a 6.9% rise in sales at outlets open for more than one year.

The growth was led by an upturn in sales at its Premier Inn hotels and coffee chain Costa which rose 9.5% and 4.5% respectively.

Andy Harrison, chief executive of Whitbread commented: "Whitbread has started the year well, with total sales growth for the first quarter of 12.7% and strong like-for-like sales growth of 6.9%, as anticipated at our Annual Results announcement on 29th April.

“Premier Inn and Costa have continued on their rapid growth trajectory, underpinned by strong customer demand. Premier Inn grew total sales by 14.2%, with like-for-like sales growth of 9.5%, benefiting from a buoyant hotel market driven by continuing growth in London and clearer signs of economic recovery in the UK regions. Premier Inn grew total revpar (revenue per available room, a key industry measure) by 8.8%, with 3.6% growth in London and 9.9% growth in the UK regions. Total occupancy rose by 4.2% points to 80.7%. Our Restaurants business also performed well with like for like sales growth of 4.4%, outperforming the industry benchmark, which was boosted by soft comparatives due to cold weather in Q1 last year. Costa once again extended its excellent track record, with total sales growth of 15.9% and like for like sales growth of 4.5%, against demanding comparatives from last year.”

Mr Harrison concluded: “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."