Figures released by leisure group Whitbread have shown a 4.3% rise in first quarter total sales, driven by increasing demand in its Costa Coffee business.
Whitbread chairman, Richard Baker said: "I am pleased to confirm that Alison Brittain will now be joining Whitbread as chief executive designate on 28 September. Alison will start as chief executive on December 7th enabling a smooth transition with Andy Harrison who will be retiring from the company on that date."
Chief executive, Andy Harrison, added: "Whitbread has begun the new financial year well, in line with expectations, with total sales growth for the first quarter of 12.5% and good like for like sales growth of 4.3%, driven by continued momentum in Premier Inn and Costa.
“Premier Inn grew its total sales by 14.3%, with a powerful combination of strong like for like sales growth of 6.3% and an 8.2% increase in rooms available. Total revpar grew by 6.1% and occupancy remained high at 80.6%. In London we saw pleasing sales growth of 21.6% driven by a 23.2% increase in rooms available, whilst maintaining high occupancy at 86.2%. In the regions we delivered another good performance growing total sales by 12.3%, with occupancy of 79.7%. Our restaurants business grew like for like sales by 0.1%, slightly ahead of a soft pub restaurant market outside the M25. Costa had another excellent quarter with total sales growth of 17.2% and UK retail like for like sales growth of 5.0% driven by winning more customers with like for like transaction growth of 4.4%. Costa's international business continues to grow rapidly with a 15.1% growth in system sales (14.1% at constant currency).
“Our leading brands continue to win market share as we invest in our people, our customer experience and our infrastructure. We are on track to deliver our ambitious growth milestones. This year we plan to open around 5,500 new Premier Inn UK rooms and around 250 net new Costa stores worldwide. Our committed UK pipeline has grown to 13,339 rooms and construction is underway on 42 new hotel sites as well as 19 hotel extensions."
