Leisure group Whitbread (LON:WTB) yesterday posted a 7.5% rise in revenues to £1.435bn for the year to March 4, 2010. The Premier Inn and Costa Coffee operator said that underlying pre-tax profits were up 6.6% to £239.1m and that net debt had been slashed by £109.7m to £513.4m.

This morning, Barclays Capital retained its “Buy” rating for the group, with a target price of 1750p. Whitbread’s shares were trading up by 0.19% at 1548p on the news. Barclays said its forecasts for Whitbread were broadly unchanged after factoring in positive news of faster room and revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth, which balanced out the negatives of increased marketing and interest costs, totalling £11m.

During the year Premier Inn opened 2,240 new rooms and secured a further 10,000 rooms in its pipeline. Whitbread’s restaurant division, which includes Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table, Taybarns and Costa, achieved consistent positive like for like sales. At Costa, operating profits were up 60% to £36.2m.

Alan Parker, Whitbread’s chief executive, who steps down in November, said the group had performed strongly in the most challenging hotel and restaurant trading conditions for a generation.

He said: “Underlying profits have been increased by virtue of outperforming our markets and improving operating efficiency. We have achieved a significant reduction in net debt while, at the same time, increasing the number of new sites acquired for our future development.”

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