Whitbread profits grow on back of Premier Inn growth
Premier Inn parent Whitbread saw its pre-tax profit in the first half of the year rise 6.7% as it added more hotel rooms .
Underlying profit in the six months to the end of August was £328 million while revenue was up year on year by 7.4% to £1.67 billion.
In the UK, it opened more than 2,000 more Premier Inn rooms and its revenue per room rose 1.8% to £53.46 million.
Premier Inn said it was on track to grow its number of rooms from 70,120 to 85,000 by 2020.
Costa coffee, also owned by Whtibread, opened 108 more coffee outlets during the same period, but its first half profits were down 10%, partly due to higher costs.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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