Andy Harrison, Chief Executive of Whitbread comments:
"Whitbread continues to deliver strong growth with total sales up 11.4% in Q3, driven by our leading brands, with Costa growing revenues by 25.2% and Premier Inn by 8.3%. Our like for like sales performance keeps us on track to deliver full year results in line with expectations.
As we said at the half year, trading month by month continues to be variable in a challenging consumer environment. Within the total hotel market, industry data*4 shows that revpar growth in London and the provinces has virtually disappeared, with the London market showing broadly flat revpar and the provinces a marginal decline over the last six weeks. Nevertheless, Premier Inn continues to win share in both markets. Restaurants have responded positively to the actions we are taking to improve performance. Costa has continued its good growth both in terms of like for like sales and store numbers.
In line with our growth programme, this year we will open 4,000 new rooms and 300 Costa stores, creating some 2,500 new UK jobs."
