Whitbread’s Costa Coffee shows signs of slowing

Britain is showing signs of getting over-caffeinated, and the shakes and tremors in Whitbread’s earnings are the early symptoms.

While the British conglomerate posted first-half earnings yesterday that beat analyst estimates, sales growth at its Costa coffee unit showed signs of petering out.

Growth at outlets open more than a year slowed to 2% in the three months through September 1 from 2.6% in the preceding three months.