Whitbread’s chief weighs up options for expansion plan August 3, 2009 WHITBREAD chief executive Alan Parker yesterday revealed he will be launching an extensive international and domestic expansion plan and took City analysts by surprise by hinting he might be prepared to tap shareholders for funds before Christmas. Whitbread, which owns budget hotel chain Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, has been eyeing up prospects in the [...]
Premier Inn’s sales tumble June 16, 2009 WHITBREAD, Britain’s biggest hotel operator, yesterday blamed the worst hotel recession in three decades for a sharp fall in first quarter revenues at budget hotel chain Premier Inn. The group said Premier Inn’s like-for-like sales fell by 7.9 per cent, after revenue per available room (Revpar) slumped by 9.6 per cent. Chief executive Alan Parker [...]
The tributes pour in as City A.M. gets to 1,000 October 22, 2009 GORDON BROWNPrime Minister“Congratulations to City A.M. on reaching a thousand editions. Your paper has kept both Westminster and the City informed at a time of great turbulence in the world economy.” SIR VICTOR BLANKFormer chairman, Lloyds Banking“City A.M. has developed into a quality newspaper which sparks boardroom debate with its insight and analysis. It is [...]
Costa profits aid Whitbread October 13, 2009 WHITBREAD yesterday reported profits that beat analysts’ expectations thanks to its coffee chain Costa, although its hotel business continued to suffer in the slump. Whitbread, which owns hotel chain Premier Inn, reported a 2.7 per cent dip in pre-tax profits to £118.2m in the six months to 27 August, but this was still ahead of [...]
Costa profits aid Whitbread October 13, 2009 WHITBREAD yesterday reported profits that beat analysts’ expectations thanks to its coffee chain Costa, although its hotel business continued to suffer in the slump. Whitbread, which owns hotel chain Premier Inn, reported a 2.7 per cent dip in pre-tax profits to £118.2m in the six months to 27 August, but this was still ahead of [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 4, 2009 THE FINANCIAL TIMES OPEL U-TURN LEAVES GERMANY ANGRYGermany and Russia reacted furiously to General Motors’ surprise decision to keep Opel rather than sell it, throwing up fresh uncertainty about the future direction of one of Europe’s biggest carmakers. The news that GM’s board had abandoned the sale of Opel/Vauxhall to Canada’s Magna and Russia’s Sberbank [...]
Woes aid Whitbread September 5, 2008 Whitbread, Britain’s biggest hotel and restaurants operator, yesterday emerged as a rare winner in the consumer slowdown, revealing a boost in sales in the first half of this year. Whitbread’s Premier Inn budget hotel chain accounts for about 70 per cent of total profits. Premier Inn had total sales up 17.9 per cent and like-for-like [...]
Whitbread wields axe as speculators circle October 24, 2005 Whitbread is expected to reveal plans to axe a quarter of its head office work force tomorrow. As he reports disappointing interim figures on Tuesday, chief executive Alan Parker is expected to confirm that up to 250 jobs will go at the leisure group’s Luton headquarters. Parker is fighting to keep the disparate business together. [...]
‘No talks’ at Whitbread October 26, 2005 The wind was knocked out of Whitbread’s sails yesterday after chief executive Alan Parker moved to quieten the takeover talk that has buoyed its shares. The leisure group was one of the biggest fallers of the day after Parker said there had been “no talks” with private or trade buyers about selling off any of [...]