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Premier Inn owner, Whitbread, has reported that group revenues stayed at £1.5bn during the first half to 29 August, in line with the same period last year.
It comes despite profits before tax falling from £391m last year to £340m in H1 FY25, which reflects the “transitory” impact of Whitbread’s Accelerating Growth Plan (AGP) on UK revenues, net inflation and lower interest receivable.
However, these movements were mitigated in part by the group’s strong performance in Germany that remains on course to reach run-rate breakeven later this year.
In line with its expectations, Whitbreads total F&B sales also fell by 7% during H1, which was attributed to the changes it made to a number of branded restaurants as part of the AGP.
This performance was “partially” offset by stronger trading in its integrated restaurants, as a result of sustained high levels of hotel occupancy.
During the six-week period to 10 October, Whitbread saw an improving trend after a soft start to September, with the result that total UK accommodation sales for the period were down 1% against the same period last year.
Meanwhile, occupancy remained strong over the period at 84.2%, with London at 82.5% and the other regions at 84.6%.
While Premier Inn is maintaining high levels of Annual Recurring Revenues (ARR), which has resulted in a total UK RevPAR of £72, this is still 4% behind last year. However, this is still “well ahead” of pre-pandemic levels.
The group’s F&B sales continued to underperform during the period to 10 October, dropping by 14%. Whitbread maintains that this is in line with expectations, reflecting the impact of its AGP.
Dominic Paul, CEO of Whitbread, said: “We are making excellent progress with our plans and over the next five years are set to deliver a step change in our performance which will fund significant returns to shareholders.
“In the UK, we have a clear pathway to further extend our market-leading position and capitalise on the favourable UK supply backdrop. We are determined to build on our significant outperformance since the pandemic and we remain on course to grow our UK returns substantially over the medium-term.”
He added: “Having laid the foundations for future growth, we are executing at pace and remain confident in the outlook as reflected by our increased interim dividend and further share buy-back.”
