Whitbread announces expansion plans

Hospitality company Whitbread has unveiled plans to expand its hotel and coffee shop facilities as it sees profits increase by 26.3 per cent.

Announcing its preliminary results for the financial year to February 28th, Whitbread said profits before tax had risen to £210.3 million and that "two longer-term ambitions" during the next five years would be to increase the size of its Premier Inn chain by 50 per cent and to double its number of Costa stores.

Alan Parker, chief executive Whitbread PLC, said that trading had been encouraging since the start of the financial year.

"2007/8 was a year of excellent progress with good results across the company. Whitbread is now a more resilient business with strong growth prospects in the UK and overseas," he added.

Premier Inn has experienced a record year with room growth of 3,400 and an increase in sales of 15.1 per cent, while Costa has seen sales in its 1,000 stores rise by 23.5 per cent.

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