Hotel and restaurant group Whitbread sees sales increase by 14%

7th September 2010, 10:33am

Whitbread, the group behind Beefeater, Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, has revealed a 14% growth in total sales for the 24 weeks to 19 August.

Premier Inn sales were up 14.5%, with like for like sales up 10.7% and revenue per available room up 9.8%. Meanwhile like for like occupancy for the 24 weeks continued its recovery to 79.2%, up 9.5 percentage points.

To date, the group has opened nine new hotels with a total of 795 rooms, of which six are on joint sites with restaurants and plans to have 1,905 rooms by 2010/11.

Costa's total sales were up 28% and like for likes rose by 8.3%. Membership of the Costa Coffee Club now stands at over three million since its launch in March, with over 40% of customers using the card.

A spokesperson for the group commented: "This strong performance across Whitbread is the result of our strategy to increase market share through organic expansion and driving like for like sales. We will continue to make progress in this 'age of austerity' by relentlessly focusing on meeting the needs of our customers. 

"Whitbread is well placed, with the right brands offering value for money in attractive segments of the market which have significant opportunities for future growth.  We remain confident about the outturn for the year, despite facing tougher comparatives in the second half."

Related Articles:

• 18 Nov 2010 - Whitbread's sales training programme brings in over 1,000 new accounts
• 16 Aug 2010 - Pub and restaurant chains achieve sales growth in July
• 13 Jul 2010 - Whitbread's Ashley Hotel sold to Greene King
• 23 Jun 2010 - Whitbread reports strong start to financial year
• 29 Apr 2010 - Whitbread outperforms its markets and grows profit by 6.6%

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