Strong consumer appetite for coffee and budget hotels meant an impressive first-half performance for Whitbread (WTB). Indeed, the group saw like-for-like sales jump 2.8 per cent year-on-year, with much of that growth having been generated at the group's Premier Inn hotels and at its Costa Coffee chain.
Costa's UK business enjoyed an especially robust first half after having brewed up a 5.5 per cent increase in like-for-like sales - that helped the division to boost underlying profits by 20.5 per cent in the period to £43.5m. The performance was complemented by the Premier Inn business, where total occupancy grew 1.3 percentage points to 80.3 per cent and like-for-like sales rose 3.3 per cent. The company currently has 53,039 UK hotel rooms and is within sight of its targeted 65,000 by 2016. However, there was a marked contrast in performance at the weather-affected restaurants division, which boasts such brands as Beefeater Grill. Underlying sales there were flat and ongoing cost pressures - mainly larger food and wage bills - also took their toll. Still, even here total divisional sales rose 2.9 per cent to £270m.
Broker Investec Securities expects pre-tax profit of £405.2m for 2014, giving adjusted EPS of 170.9p (from £356.5m and 149.2p in 2013).
WHITBREAD (WTB) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 3,395p | MARKET VALUE: | £6.12bn | |
| TOUCH: | 3,391-3,396p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 3,424p | LOW: 2,243p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.7% | PE RATIO: | 20 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 917p | NET DEBT: | 26% | |
| Half-year to 29 Aug | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1.01 | 185 | 95.3 | 19.5 |
| 2013 | 1.14 | 201 | 99.3 | 21.8 |
| % change | +12 | +9 | +4 | +12 |
Ex-div: 6 Nov Payment: 10 Jan | ||||
