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Profits up at Whitbread
Year-end figures released by brewers Whitbread show total revenue for the period up 7.5 per cent on the previous year (£1.334m) at £1.435m.
Like for like sales were down 0.5 per cent for the year but showed a rise of 3.1 per cent in Q4. Pre-tax profits were up 6.6 per cent at £239.1m - from £224m last year - with profit after tax rising to £160m against £90.3m for 2008/2009.
Net debt was down by £109.7m to £513.4m, against £623.1m last year. Premier Inn, the company's budget hotel division, saw sales up 4.7 per cent, with like for like sales declining 4.3 per cent. The chain saw 2,240 new rooms open during the year and is looking to expand the number of rooms available in the UK to 55,000 by the end of 2014. Its opening schedule for 2010/11 is 29 new Premier Inns, which includes 10 new restaurants on joint sites.
Sales at Whitbread's restaurants - Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns - rose 1.3 per cent, with like for like sales seeing a rise of 1.7 per cent. Costa Coffee had a stellar year, with what the company called an 'outstanding' result. The brand reported operating profits up 60 per cent, sales up by nearly a quarter at 23.4 per cent and like for like sales up 5.5 per cent. It also saw the addition of 312 net new coffee shops, an increase of 24 per cent, with a further 130 UK outlets planned for 2010/2011.
Whitbread CEO, Alan Parker said: "The company has performed strongly in the most challenging hotel and restaurant trading conditions for a generation. "While the level of economic recovery remains unclear, the first seven weeks of the financial year have started well, with positive momentum across the business."
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