Whitbread shares dip after Premier Inn yields fall

Whitbread, Britain’s biggest hotel and coffee shop operator, reported a sharp slowdown in revenue growth at its Premier Inn business, helping knock its shares which had risen sharply the past month.

The Premier Inn chain was expected to benefit in Whitbread’s home market from record levels of foreigners visiting Britain due to the weakness of sterling following last year’s Brexit vote, as well as “staycationers” .

However, growth in UK revenue per available room, or RevPAR, a key measure in the hotel sector, shrank to 1.8% for the six months to the end of August from 3.1% in the first quarter.