SHARES in Premier Inn and Costa Coffee chain owner Whitbread softened, despite a 9% rise in annual pre-tax profits of £230m.
Net income, for the year to February 26, fell from £557.8m to £91.8m after stripping out an exceptional gain on the sale of the David Lloyd fitness clubs in the group’s previous year’s figures.
That was below 10 analysts’ estimates for £121m and caused shares to slide by about 1.45%.
Although the group hailed “good progress” in “increasingly difficult economic conditions” the market also noted a dampening in demand within its hotel chain in the last quarter which pushed group like-for-like sales into negative territory.
Group revenues rose 9.7% to £1.33bn, with overall like-for-like sales up 4.9%.
Costa Coffee opened 296 new sites, including 110 overseas, boosting sales 22% to £263.8m.
