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Tough Times
Despite meeting sales expectations Whitbread has warned that trading in the pub and restaurant sector is disappointing and that trading would remain challenging.
Despite meeting sales expectations Whitbread has warned that trading in the pub and restaurant sector is disappointing and that trading would remain challenging.
The UK leisure group, which owns The Brewers Fayre chain, Costa Coffee, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and Premier Travel Inns, among other high-street on-trade brands, met modest sales targets for the nine months to December 2005. However, like for like sales in the high street restaurant arm dropped by 3.4% and by 2.1% in the pub restaurant business. A company statement says that trading remains disappointing and that, “reversing the trends in volume decline will take time”. Whitbread is currently handling some £1bn in assets including the Marriot hotel chain and a stake in Britvic. It has returned some £400m to shareholders as a result and is set to return a further £400m some time in the near future.