Latte sales a bit too skinny for Whitbread

Whitbread reported its first like-for-like sales fall in almost a decade as its Premier Inn and Costa Coffee businesses both went into decline in the first quarter. However, shares of the FTSE 100 leisure group, which recently confirmed plans to demerge Costa amid pressure from activist investors, jumped by 134p to £40.27 after reassurances that it would still hit full-year expectations. Whitbread said that while UK sales had fallen by 1.3% on a like-for-like basis, total sales had risen by 3.2% — or by 3.5% excluding its international operations — driven by the opening of new hotels, coffee shops and Costa Express machines. Click here for the full Times article (£) Click here for the full Telegraph article Click here for the full Guardian article