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Whitbread plc (LSE:WTB), holding company of some United Kingdom’s popular brands in the hospitality market, boasted £1.7 billion in revenues for 2011, a leap of 11.2% compared to 2010.
“Whitbread has delivered another good set of results,” said Whitbread Chairman, Anthony Habgood while noting down increase in full year earnings and a 15% increase in dividends.
“Our focus on building strong brands and meeting the needs of our customers has enabled us to perform well in tough market conditions giving us the confidence to continue to expand in line with our ambitious growth plans.”
The group owns Premier Inn UK, Costa Coffee, Brewers Fayre, Beefeater Grill, Table Table, and Taybarns.
Financial Highlights
Group like-for-like sales were up 2.6%, giving a 11.3% rise in underlying profit at £320 million that allowed the company to release dividends 15.2% more than last year’s at 134.1 pence per share.
Whitbread set a five-year aggressive growth programme, including increasing capacity at the Premier Inn by 4,000, and the business delivered with total number of rooms now at 58,000, nearing its 2016 target of 65,000.
Premier Inn sales accounted for 42.5% of the total gross sales of the group at £775.9 million, followed by Costa Coffee for 30.4% at £541.9 million and the rest from the restaurant chains for 27% at £483.4 million.
Costa Coffee have added 332 stores across the UK and overseas, whereby at the current rate, they will be able to hit the 3,500 stores envisioned by the company by 2016. Costa Coffee currently has 2,203 stores worldwide.
Whitbread also reported about creating about 2,500 jobs and are expecting 10,000 more in the next three years, acknowledging their employees role in the success of the group. Total employees are estimated to be more than 40,000.
“Our success depends on the hard work and professionalism of our 40,000 team members and I would like to thank them for their enormous contribution,” stated Chief Executive Andy Harrison.
The group invested heavily in capital, increasing by 52.3% to £307.9 million that was backed by strong cash flow, but at the same time increased the company’s net debt to £504.3 million.
The bottom line, Whitbread finished with a 19.8% increase in after tax profits including exceptional items and posted £266 million, increasing the basic EPS by 19.2% to 151.2 pence.
