Leisure group Whitbread has released a set of strong first quarter figures showing total sales up 13.5 per cent and like-for-like sales up 7.6 per cent.

Highlights were budget hotel chain Premier Inn and coffee outlet Costa Coffee, which saw like-for-like sales up 10.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively. Total sales were up 14.1 per cent at Premier Inn and up 26.9 per cent at Costa Coffee. The company's restaurant brands - Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns - saw 5.2 per cent more customers over the period, with total sales up 4.2 per cent and like-for-like sales up 3.6 per cent.

Turnover at Whitbread's UK and international franchise stores was up by 39.7 per cent to £63.9m (€76.7m). The company opened a net total of 55 equity and franchise stores in the quarter - 24 of these in the UK and 31 overseas - and is planning on opening around 250 new stores during 2010/11. Alan Parker, Whitbread chief executive said: "Whitbread has started the new financial year strongly. However, we are not planning on the consumer climate becoming any easier."