Whitbread total revenue exceeds £2bn

Revenues grew 14.2% to £2.03bn. Like-for-like sales increased by 3.7% and underlying profit before tax was up 11.4% to £356.5m. Full year dividend was up 12.0% to 57.4p. Profit after tax and exceptional items was up 13.3% to £301.3m for Whitbread, which also hoped to create 3,000 net new jobs in 2012/2013, with a further 12,000 expected over the next five years.

Costa was again the key driver of growth, with system sales up 22.6% to £1bn. Revenue grew 24.1% to £672.4m. Costa opened 324 net new coffee shops in the year, with a net 186 in the UK and net 138 in overseas markets.

Like-for-like sales in the UK grew 6.8% as it benefitted from the innovation in new food and beverage ranges and the growing customer preference for the Costa brand, Whitbread said.

Revenue at its hotels and restaurants arm grew 9.7% to £1.36bn, with Premier Inn growing by 13.1% to £853.8m and Restaurants by 4.5% to £506.3m.

"Premier Inn and Restaurants both benefitted from new openings with 4,242 net additional Premier Inn rooms and ten new restaurants on joint sites. Although Premier Inn International did not open any new rooms in the year, it benefitted from a full year of sales on the 375 net rooms opened in the previous year."

Like-for-like sales growth for UK hotels and restaurants was 2.8%, with Premier Inn at 3.1%. "This growth was driven by maintaining the quality of the rooms, with 5,979 rooms refurbished in the year, investment in our online distribution and the continued development of dynamic pricing.

"This enabled us to outperform our midscale and economy sector competitors, with revpar growth of 1.7%.

"Restaurants like for like sales grew 2.3%, led by improvements to our menu offering and the growing customer base staying at the adjacent hotels. Through our continued focus on the customer and by delivering value for money, the number of like for like covers increased 3% compared to last year."

Anthony Habgood, Whitbread chairman, said: "Whitbread has grown its total sales in the year by over 14% and continued to produce strong operating cash flows of over £500 million. This has funded both significant organic investment to grow our businesses and a double digit percentage increase in our dividends while maintaining prudent debt levels.

Like-for-like sales growth for UK hotels and restaurants was 2.8%, with Premier Inn at 3.1%.