Premier Inn gives a boost to Whitbread June 22, 2010 A RISE in bookings and higher room charges at Premier Inn helped first-quarter sales at owner Whitbread grow 7.6 per cent year-on-year. The group, which also owns Costa Coffee and the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre pub-restaurant chains, said comparable sales at Premier Inn were up 10.5 per cent in the 13 weeks to 3 June. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHY IS WHITBREAD OUTPERFORMING OTHER GROUPS ? June 22, 2010 GEORGE GODBER | MATTERLEY ASSET MANAGEMENT Whitbread has a very strong management team and in the bull market did not take on lots of debts like other groups. Premier Inns has obviously performed well but Costa Coffee is also very strong. This is a successful comnpany which has made shrewd decisions over the last few [...]
SuperGroup in £500k payout for online plans June 22, 2010 SuperGroup, owner of the Superdry brand, has paid the man who sold its seconds on the web £500,000 and taken the operation in-house. Chris Griffin, the top-rated UK seller of designer clothing on eBay, will be given the payment in shares. Meanwhile, Griffin will become the company’s e-commerce chief and be put on the SuperGroup [...]
Tame increase in CGT brings cheer to City June 22, 2010 CHAMPIONS of enterprise breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as chancellor George Osborne stopped short of fully bowing to Liberal Democrat plans to raise capital gains tax (CGT) in line with income tax. Osborne used his inaugural Budget to introduce a new 28 per cent rate of CGT for higher-rate taxpayers, effective from midnight last [...]
Board shake-up at Mitchells & Butlers as finance chief quits to join Rentokil June 22, 2010 PUBS and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has appointed Interserve’s Tim Jones as finance director replacing Jeremy Townsend, who will join Rentokil as chief financial officer at the end of August. Meanwhile, Interserve said Tim Jones, who has handed in his resignation in order to take up the role at M&B, will remain at [...]
3i sells UK inspection firm June 22, 2010 BRITISH private equity firm 3i is to sell its commodities testing business to French health and safety experts Bureau Veritas for £450m. The purchase of Inspectorate is the biggest ever for Bureau Veritas, and is expected to boost its earnings for the year and make it one of the top three global goods inspection firms. [...]
Brand performance can be read in the leaves June 22, 2010 Looking at YouGov’s BrandIndex, we sometimes have a sense of how a brand is performing before any major announcements to the City are made. Take the UK restaurant and hotel business Whitbread, which has announced promising profits for the start of the year, primarily because of an improvement in the hotel market, and an increased [...]
Chemring set for steady growth from acquisitions and US orders June 22, 2010 ARMS firm Chemring posted steady growth yesterday, with increased sales to the American military but a slowdown in European business. The company’s order book grew by 16 per cent to £651m, translating to a seven per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £42.3m, Chemring said in a half-year statement. Several purchases dented overall pre-tax [...]
High Street braces itself for 20pc VAT June 22, 2010 GEORGE Osborne yesterday dropped a tax bombshell – announcing that VAT will rise from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent. The chancellor said the rise, which will be implemented on 4 January 2011, is expected to generate up to £13bn for the public purse. He said: “The years of debt and spending make this [...]
Retailers warn tax hike threatens sales recovery June 22, 2010 RETAILERS yesterday warned the rise in VAT would dent a recovery on the High Street, but won an important concession by convincing the Treasury to delay its introduction until 4 January. Treasury sources said the chancellor had taken into account the “hoo hah” experienced by the industry when the last change in VAT was enacted almost [...]
