Whitbread reports a 2.6% increase in like-for-like sales

Total group sales increased by 11.2% to £1.7bn during the year on the back of new openings and like-for-like sales growth. Premier Inn sales grew by 8.3% to £755.9m, Restaurants by 1.8% to £483.4m and Costa by 27.5% to £541.9m.

In what the group described as a “challenging economic environment” underlying pre-tax profit increased by 11.3% to £320.1m.

The company said that like-for-like sales across its restaurants division, which includes Beefeater and Brewer’s Fayre, fell by 0.2% during the year, with the first half of the year described as “disappointing”. However, the division saw an improvement in performance in the second half of the year, with like-for-like sales up 1.2% during the second half of the year and covers up 4.8%.

During the year, the group appointed a dedicated management team for the division, which it said had helped drive sales, operational excellence and cost efficiencies.

New initiatives included the continued roll out of the Buffet Place concept within its Brewers Fayre estate. A total of 71 sites were converted in the year taking the total to 95 and these achieved an average sales uplift of 6% on conversion.
 
The group opened 12 new pub restaurant sites in the year, taking its total to 387, and plans to open a further six new sites in 2012/13.

Like-for-like sales at Premier Inn's like for like sales growth of 3.2% was impacted by a slowdown in the total hotel market in the second half of the year, particularly in the regions.

The company said that its openings across its hotels and restaurants division over the last three years had shown good returns as new sites matured and the return on capital for the division increased slightly to 12.4%. Return on capital in Costa grew to 32.4%, up from 28.3%.

Capex during the year stood at £307.9m with Hotels and Restaurants spend amounting to £244.2m and Costa £63.7m.

Whitbread said it expects capital expenditure for the year ahead to be at similar levels to 2011/12. In addition. It plans a further sale and leaseback, similar in size to that in the last financial year. Last August, the group sold seven Premier Inn sites to real estate investment company LaSalle Investment Management for £53.8m in a sale and leaseback deal.

Like-for-like sales at Costa climbed 5.5% during the year, in which it opened 332 net new stores; 175 in the UK and 157 overseas taking its total number of Costa stores to 2,203. Whitbread plans to open 350 Costa stores in 2012/13 putting its “well on track” to achieve its growth milestones of £1.3bn system sales, 3,500 stores worldwide and around 3,000 Costa Express machines by 2015/16.