Profit sinks at Premier Inn owner Whitbread as Brexit uncertainty hits hotel demand October 22, 2019 Profit slipped at Premier Inn owner Whitbread in its latest half-year as the company grappled with a weak UK travel market after selling coffee chain Costa to Coca-Cola last year. Read more: Whitbread share price tumbles on Barclays downgrade The figures Pre-tax profit fell 7.1 per cent to £220m, down from £237m this time last [...]
Whitbread shares: Waiting for strategy to bear fruit June 24, 2019 | City Talk It’s not easy being a hotelier in this market, but Whitbread shares are holding their own for now. Despite having previously laid the groundwork in guiding expectations lower, Whitbread (LSE:WTB) has delivered a first-quarter update which is light on cheer. Without the diversification and success that Costa brought, the company is now mostly hostage to the cyclical [...]
Premier Inn owner Whitbread warns ‘acute’ political uncertainty will hurt growth after Costa coffee sale April 30, 2019 Whitbread today revealed profits have plummeted 40 per cent since the £3.9bn sale of its Costa coffee chain to Coca-Cola last year. Read more: Caffeine kick: Whitbread announces £2bn share buyback The figures Profit before tax at the Premier Inn owner slumped 39.1 per cent year on year to just £260m in its 2019 financial [...]
UK bags Europe’s M&A top spot with $247bn of deals in 2018 as TMT mergers grow February 19, 2019 The UK enjoyed the highest value of M&A deals in Europe last year as telecoms and media takeovers spiked. High value purchases like Comcast’s $39bn purchase of Sky pushed mergers involving UK companies to $247bn in 2018, data compiled by law firm Clifford Chance found. Read more: Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury's-Asda merger Both domestic and [...]
Mark Kleinman: Aviva’s missed deadline ensures brickbats February 15, 2019 Viva Aviva? For such a stalwart of blue-chip boardrooms, Sir Adrian Montague suddenly can’t put a foot right. Four years after taking over the chairmanship of Aviva when John McFarlane scuttled off to Barclays, he’s ended up in a rather large pickle of his own making. Sacking Mark Wilson as the insurer’s chief executive last [...]
Caffeine kick: Whitbread announces £2bn share buyback after £4bn Costa Coffee sale February 13, 2019 Whitbread is planning to give shareholders well over half of the money it made from selling high street coffee chain Costa for £4bn late last year. The Premier Inn owner promised an extra £2bn windfall for shareholders today, a month after concluding the megadeal with Coca-Cola. Read more: Whitbread warns of stalling profits as it [...]
Against the tide of shareholder activism February 12, 2019 You cannot blame boardrooms today for being preoccupied, with everything from Brexit contingency planning to the prospect of a Corbyn government. Yet there is another, more pressing need for every UK listed business to be preparing for: activist investors. Shareholder activism, whereby an investor leverages their stake to put pressure on the management of a [...]
Premier Inn owner Whitbread warns of stalling profits as it launches share buyback scheme January 17, 2019 Whitbread will kick off the process of giving £500m back to shareholders today after completing the £3.9bn sale of Costa, but warned that uncertainty would stall profits next year. It said Premier Inn has added over 2,000 new rooms since the financial year began in March. The company has grown sales in its accomodation business [...]
Activist shareholders step up pressure on UK boards January 13, 2019 Shareholder activism increased sharply in the UK last year as investors launched campaigns at 25 companies, spending $7.35bn (£5.72bn) on shares. Elliott Advisors was the most prolific activist investor, launching 22 new campaigns worldwide, according to research by the investment bank Lazard. Elliott led a campaign that prompted UK retailer Whitbread to offload Costa Coffee to Coca-Cola [...]
The activist investor revolution has begun November 30, 2018 A year ago, anyone attempting to name a FTSE 100 stock that was likely to chart a double-digit share price rise would have been unlikely to name Whitbread. With a big exposure to the British consumer, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inns seemed to have too many chips stacked on the wrong part [...]