Coffee boost for Whitbread

Mar 4 2010 By nebusiness

Costa Coffee’s new "flat white" brew has helped the chain notch up another surge in sales, owner Whitbread said today.

The launch of the strong white coffee at the end of January provided a new year boost for the Costa business, with the fourth quarter sales growth of 9.5% ahead of the 6.7% seen in the third quarter.

Parent group Whitbread - which yesterday named easyJet boss Andy Harrison as its incoming chief executive - also received a lift from Costa as group like-for-like sales rose 3% in the fourth quarter to February 18.

There was better trading across a number of its operations, with a marked improvement in the Premier Inn budget hotels chain, which turned a 3.1% third quarter sales decline into growth of 1.7%.

Its pub restaurant arm - including the Brewers Fayre business - was hit by the recent snow and adverse weather, with sales growth slowing from 2.3% to 1.3%, according to Whitbread.