Whitbread lifted by premier trading

Premier Inn owner Whitbread today posted a 13% hike in half-year profits thanks to strong performances at its budget hotel group and coffee chain Costa Coffee.

The group delivered underlying pre-tax profits of £99.4m (142.7m) in the six months to August 30.

Whitbread’s recently rebranded Premier Inn business, which has around 490 hotels across the UK, saw like-for-like sales rise by 11%, while Costa Coffee sales leapt 7% on a like-for-like basis.